


When Adrien met Marinette

by megupic



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Angst, Childhood Friends AU, Eventual Plot, F/M, Fluff, LadyNoir - Freeform, Origin Story, generally cute stuff, i'll add tags as i go, might turn more serious as they grow older, similar to the actual origins but tweaked a bit differently
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 07:23:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 29,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7091392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megupic/pseuds/megupic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Adrien and Marinette have been friends since they were five years old and have been nearly inseparable ever since. But as they grow older, will they be able to handle whatever life throws at them, including personal tragedies, supervillains, and perhaps falling for each other?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> I freaking love the childhood friends au and there is not nearly enough of this au in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom! So while I do want to have this story have actual plot, there will be a lot of fluff instances where I want to explore Marinette and Adrien's friendship right from the beginning. So please have patience with me and I hope you enjoy!

The day Adrien Agreste met Marinette Dupain-Cheng was not a momentous day, it was just a regular Tuesday.

But looking back, both would agree that that day had been important, at least to them. Adrien and Marinette were not in the same social class and they lived far enough apart that a coincidental meeting wouldn’t have been possible.

There was really no reason they should have met at all.

Adrien was homeschooled by his mother and only went out into the world when she did, or when they visited the Bourgeois family down the street. Marinette, on the other hand, attended the local preschool and played with the neighborhood kids in the park across the street from her home.

The two had very different lives and would have continued on that way never knowing of each other’s existence if Emilie Agreste hadn’t needed to pick up a birthday cake for her husband, Gabriel.

She could have just ordered a cake to be delivered, or hired a caterer to take care of the whole affair, but she was a social butterfly and loved going on adventures and meeting new people around Paris with Adrien in tow. Together they found new cafes, museums, and hidden gems that tour guides often skipped over or didn’t know about. They met people from all around the world who hoped for their happy ending in the City of Light, and came home every day with a new story to tell Gabriel, who was slaving away at his designs to keep them and the new company supported. There was so much to see and do, Emilie didn’t have time to be cooped up inside a big, empty house.

So instead of ordering for something to be delivered, she slung her purse over her shoulder, grabbed her sunhat, took Adrien’s hand in her own, and went out for a morning stroll to the new bakery that had just opened a few blocks away.

It was a hot June day, but she smiled all the way, enjoying the warmth seep into her skin and watching the sunlight shine off of her son’s golden locks. A ladybug buzzed by, drifting lazily on the wind and right past Adrien’s nose. He ripped his hand from hers and took off at a run, chasing the ladybug down the sidewalk.

“Just don’t run into the street, Adrien!” she called after him.

“Okay!” he quickly shouted over his shoulder before whipping his head back so he wouldn’t lose sight of the ladybug.

He came to a screeching halt at the end of the block, as far as he could go without running into the street, green eyes gazing forlornly across the street.

“Did you lose your ladybug, love?” she asked once she caught up to him, running her slender fingers through his hair.

He nodded sadly, shoulders starting to hunch in on themselves. Emilie knew that stance. He always stood like that before he would launch into a fit of crying. Before he could start though, she crouched down so she was eye-level with him and tipped his chin up with her fingers.

“Hey, chin up my darling. I’m sure your ladybug will come back to you one day. They’re good luck after all.”

She winked at him and his frown immediately transformed into a wide, toothy grin.

“Let’s go get that cake now, okay?”

“Okay!” Adrien latched onto her hand once again, ready to continue their adventure. As it turned out, they were already there. The bakery was just behind them, sitting patiently on the corner of the block. She pulled open the door, a bell jingling brightly through the store.

The bakery wasn't very big, but it was cozy. The cabinets and counters were white with gold trimming and the bright daylight streaming in through the wide windows bathed everything in a warm, cheery light. Cases of sweets, cakes, tarts, and quiches sat in cases on each side of the shop and a small counter was set at the back with a register.

“Welcome!” a young Asian woman greeted with a sweet smile. She had jet-black hair that fell to her chin and had a pink rose tucked behind her ear. She wore a simple apron over her jeans and Chinese-styled shirt. She was very pretty, probably no more than twenty-five years old.

“Hello!” Emilie cheerily returned the greeting. “I'm here to pick up a birthday cake? It should be under Agreste.”

“Okay, let me go into the back and put it in a box for you, Madame Agreste,” she said after confirming the order in her leger, “We _just_ finished icing it.”

Emilie nodded patiently and waited as the woman walked back into the kitchen calling, “Tom! Madame Agreste is here for her cake!”

The woman came back a moment later with a small pink box in her hands.

“This is a really lovely _boulangerie_ you have here by the way,” Emilie commented, eyes sweeping once again around the room and lingering on a macaron display. “How long have you been in business Madame...?”

“Cheng,” the other woman supplied, “But you can call me Sabine. My husband and I only just opened up this year.”

“Oh really?” Emilie blinked in surprise, “I wouldn’t have guessed that at all. You look like you’re doing well for yourselves here.”

Sabine smiled, blushing at the praise. “We’re just as surprised. It’s been a lot of trial and error…”

As the two women chatted, they hardly noticed that a little girl, no more than five years old, had peeked around the counter and now was staring with big blue eyes at Adrien. She had short black hair like her mother but instead of a rose, she wore two pink hair clips that kept her bangs out of her face and was dressed in a pink and white dress with sandals. She was about the same height as Adrien.

Adrien quickly noticed he was being stared at and turned his gaze--which had previously been occupied by a plate of _pain au chocolats_ \--on the girl. His mouth split into a toothy grin and he waved at her, which got him a shy wave in return. She got over her shyness quickly though, once she decided he was friendly, and padded over to Adrien.

“I’m Marinette, who are you?” she demanded boldly, her hands on her hips. She didn't seem mean to him though, just really curious.

“Um, Adrien. My name’s Adrien.”

“You’re getting a cake?”

He nodded. “It’s for my father. His birthday’s tomorrow.”

Marinette seemed satisfied with this answer, nodding knowingly. “I helped make the cake. My daddy, who is the best baker in all of Paris, taught me how to mix everything up..”

“That’s cool. My father’s a designer. He likes to make clothes.”

“Do you like cupcakes?” Marinette suddenly asked, apparently not interested in hearing about anything unrelated to baking.

“Yeah.”

“Good, c’mere!” she grabbed Adrien's hand and dragged him back behind the counter, much to the amusement of Emilie and Sabine.

She led him into the bakery and over to a counter where a rack of colorfully-frosted mini cupcakes sat.

“What’s your favorite kind of cupcake?”

“Chocolate," he said, grinning. Like he had to think about _that_ one. Who didn’t like chocolate?

She nodded approvingly, as if she’d known that would be his answer, and climbed up onto a stool to select two: a chocolate mini cupcake with bright green frosting and black sprinkles, and a red velvet one with bright red frosting and the same black sprinkles.

“Here, this one's yours,” she said, handing down the green one to him.

Adrien decided he liked this girl. _Especially_ since she was giving him sweets.

“Adrien, it’s time to go dear!” Adrien’s mom’s voice cut in from the front of the shop.

“I gotta go,” he said, his smile fading into a frown.

Marinette didn’t look happy either to have her new friend gone so quickly. “Okay, but you should come back sometime,” she said, leading Adrien back out.

When Emilie saw the cupcake in Adrien's hand, her green eyes grew wide.

“Adrien, wat’cha got there?”

“A cupcake! Marinette gave it to me!" he grinned, holding it up high for her to see.

“Oh, how nice of her.” Emilie turned back to Sabine, an apology written on her face. “How much for the cupcake?”

“Oh don’t worry about it, it's on the house," Sabine answered, winking down at Adrien.

“A-Are you sure?”

“Definitely. It looks like these two have become fast friends. It was lovely meeting you Madame Agreste.”

“Emilie,” she corrected. “Feel free to call me Emilie, please.”

Sabine smiled and nodded. “Of course. It was lovely to meet you Emilie and Adrien. Feel free to come by anytime.”

“We might just take you up on that offer!” Emilie giggled. “Say goodbye, Adrien.”

“Bye Marinette! Thanks for the cupcake!” He waved enthusiastically as his mother took his free hand and led him out of the store.

Marinette sprinted after them and stood at the corner, watching them go.

“Bye!” she waved at their retreating backs, a cupcake in one hand, her lips already smeared red with the frosting.


	2. Tea With the Agrestes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Adrien wants both of his friends to come over, he doesn't realize that anything would backfire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still when they're 5 years old. I'm thinking of doing each chapter by age group like skipping ahead to age 8 then 10 then 12 (or something like that) to older ages until we get their friendship fully established :)  
> Also thanks to my friend Andrew for being my beta and for providing me with adrinette fluff ideas for them growing up!

“Mom! Mom! Mommommommommom!” Adrien’s excited squeals bounced off the walls of the Agreste mansion as he hurtled across the marble-tiled corridors, slipping around corners and creating small skid marks from his sneakers. Even though his father had gently reprimanded him for running in the halls, especially with his shoes on, Adrien still did it. At this age, it was almost impossible to put a leash on their wild, energetic son, so the Agrestes did their best to deal with the skid marks, scraped knees, bruised elbows, and the one missing tooth by always following the accidents up with a gentle but firm lecture on safety. They could only hope for the best with a five year old let loose in a large mansion. 

While Emilie had insisted that getting such a large house after Gabriel’s outstanding success in the fashion industry wasn’t needed, Gabriel had insisted that he had wanted the best for their family. They had decided to wait to have Adrien until Gabriel's career could take care of them comfortably and with that added with Gabriel's insistence of providing the best, Emilie didn’t argue very hard against the idea. Plus she didn’t mind the extravagance. She'd come from money, unlike Gabriel, who had to work for where he was today.   
So while the house was a bit extravagant and large, she was more than willing to kiss Adrien's injuries from running around and bumping himself every now and then. 

Adrien found his mom in her favorite sitting room that faced the Eiffel Tower. It was a warm room, covered in soft carpet and painted in pale blues, yellows, and greens. She was lounging in a deep blue, stuffed armchair with a book in her hands, but as soon as Adrien entered the room, down went the book on the coffee table and her full attention went to her son.

“What is it, Adrien?” she asked with a soft chuckle as he ran across the room to her.

“CanMaricometoourhousetoplay?" Adrien’s proposal came out in one rush of air, quick with his excitement.

“Wait, wait, slow down. Now say that one more time.”

Adrien nodded and took a dramatically big breath in and let it out with a whoosh before asking, “Can Mari come to our house to play?”

Emilie blinked. Adrien hadn’t asked that before and she had assumed it was because he enjoyed the sunny and open park with the carousel next to the Dupain-Cheng's bakery more than the big mansion.

“I don’t see why not, I’d have to run this by your father, but I’m sure he won’t mind. Why do you want to bring Mari here? Don't you like the park?”

“Well yeah," Adrien said it like it was obvious but she was somehow missing his point. “But I’ve already been over to her house and she hasn't seen mine! She asked me about it today.”

“Well okay. And what would you and Mari do here?”

“Hm...” Adrien’s face scrunched up in a look of hard concentration, his lips pursing and green eyes narrowing. 

Emilie giggled, thinking it would be best to help Adrien or else they'd be there all day.

"What does Mari like to do?”

“Well she likes to bake, but she can do that whenever. She really likes pink, and likes to play pretend, and she likes princesses.”

“Okay, then how about a tea party?”

Adrien's face scrunched up, clearly not enamored by the idea. “A tea party?”

Emilie nodded. “We have a few pretty tea sets and if she likes sweets, playing pretend, and princesses, wouldn't she like a tea party? So she can be a princess for a day?”

Adrien was hesitant. “Yeah but...Those are for girls.”

Emilie smiled patiently and shook her head. “Not always. Sometimes the prince invites the princess over for tea if they're friends and like each other's company. Mari’s your friend, isn’t she?”

He nodded his head vigorously, his blonde mop of hair flopping over his eyes. Emilie brushed his hair out of his face.

“Then, my little prince, why not send out a royal invitation to Mari? Or more of your friends, like Chloe?”

“Well...” he bit his lip, seriously considering her idea. He seemed to come to a conclusion a moment later, because he nodded and smiled. “Okay! I can invite Mari and Chloe over for a tea party. But DON’T expect me to kiss their hands or any of that stuff.”

Emilie frowned a bit. “It sounds like we have quite a ways to go to make you a proper gentleman. But all right then. Let me talk things over with your father and call Monsieur Bourgeois and Sabine.”

“YES!!” Adrien pumped his tiny fist in the air, dancing around the room while she left to go talk to Gabriel.

 

The tea party was a few days later and hosted in a parlor on the second floor. The kitchen staff had supplied the kids with small ham finger sandwiches and “tea” which was actually juice in one of the older tea sets that was hardly used anymore, just in case. A tiny table was set up with three chairs, one for Adrien, one for Mari, and one for Chloe. 

Mari arrived first, accompanied by Sabine and a pink box. After a quick kiss goodbye, Sabine had left with a promise to be back in an hour or two. 

“What’s in the box?” Adrien asked, daring to try to open it to get a peek inside. Marinette just held it away from him teasingly.

“Cookies, but we can't eat any until the party!” she stuck out her tongue at him and he returned the gesture.

A moment later another knock came to the door. Emilie opened it to reveal Monsieur Bourgeois holding his daughter’s hand. Chloe had blonde hair just like Adrien’s, and it was pulled up into a small ponytail at the top of her head. She wore a yellow and white sundress and a small, golden tiara on top of her head. She said bye to her father, not bothering with any kisses, and nearly pounced on Adrien as soon as the door was shut.

“Adrichou!” she exclaimed, wrapping him up tightly in a crushing hug. A silver bracelet tinkled at her wrist. “I missed you!”

“We played together yesterday, Chlo,” Adrien said, grinning and hugging her back before she let go and took a step back, finally noticing Mari standing next to them.

“Okay kids, follow me up to the tea party!” Emilie said with a clap of her hands together and started to lead them upstairs.

“Chlo this is Mari, my other friend!” Adrien introduced on their way up. “She lives in a bakery and her mom and dad's sweets are really good!”

Chloe looked Mari up and down before getting a glint in her eyes and smiling. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said with all the finesse her father had taught her to use. “My name’s Chloe Bourgeouis. My daddy owns the Grand Paris hotel.”

Marinette’s blue eyes grew wide and her mouth shaped itself into a little ‘o’ in awe. “I’ve seen that place! It's really pretty, like a castle!”

Chloe's smile only grew. “It really is like a castle, and I’m the princess of it! My daddy says so.”

“Here we are,” Emilie interrupted, leading them into the parlor where the table was already set with their teacups filled with juice and plates of sandwiches. “I can take that sweetie,” she said to Marinette, gently taking the box of cookies and placing it on the table with the other food. She plucked three out and placed them on the plates, one for each of them.

“Now Adrien, remember what I said about being a gentlemen. And call if you need anything, I’ll be right across the hall. Have fun you three!” Then she was gone, leaving the door open and the three kids to their party.

Adrien went over what his mom had taught him in his head, pulling out Chloe and Mari's chairs for them and then went to sit in his own. Mari was looking around with wide eyes, particularly out the window towards the Eiffel Tower.  
“Wow, Adrien, your house is like a castle too! It’s so big!”

Adrien smiled and was about to thank her, like his mom had told him was the polite thing to do, when Chloe spoke first.

“It is, isn’t it? But it’s not as big as my daddy's hotel. He's got tons of workers to keep it clean and pretty.” She sipped delicately at her tea, or as delicately as a five year old could. 

“Wow, that’s so cool! I don’t live in a very big house, but my papa calls me his little princess and says he’s the King of Pastries.”

Adrien snorted at that, giggling helplessly as juice splattered over the table, his shirt, and down his face.

“That’s really funny," he said when Marinette sat there looking at him with a weird look. “He really is the King of Pastries though.”

Chloe, on the other hand, was not as impressed. 

“Hmph! I’ve never even heard of a King of Pastries! Besides, aren’t bakers commoners and always covered in flour? I don't think that makes you a princess.”

Mari glared at Chloe. “It does too!”

“It does not! Tell you what, Mari. You can be me and Adrien's personal baker and make us all the cookies we want and he’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess.”

Mari clenched her cookie in her tiny hands, breaking it in half. Her eyes were filling with tears, which Chloe noticed immediately.

“See, you wouldn’t even be a good princess, Mari, it’s just the truth. Princesses don’t cry unless they're being threatened by a big ugly dragon. Princesses aren’t cry babies.”

“I’m not a cry baby!” Marinette yelled and shot up, almost tripping over her chair leg before running out the door.

Adrien turned to Chloe, who was looking pretty smug.

“That wasn't very nice, Chloe. Mari's my friend and you shouldn’t be so mean.”

“I was just telling the truth, Adrichou,” Chloe said, sipping at her tea. “Besides, my daddy said I should never lie.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be mean about it!” Adrien snapped, then ran out the door calling, “Mari wait!”

Adrien found Mari around the corner, sitting hunched on the floor with her back against the wall and her knees drawn up to her chest. She was crying into her arms. He approached slowly, not wanting to scare her. 

“Hey Mari,” he almost whispered, looking down at her. She didn’t look up and continued to whimper into her arms. Adrien sat down across from her, sitting criss-cross applesauce. 

“Chloe shouldn’t have said that. It was mean.”

Mari only shook her head and let out another choked sob. Adrien scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out a way to make her stop crying. He didn’t like it when she was sad. Then he remembered what his mom had told him about how a prince should act and before he decided against it, he gently picked up her hand and kissed it.

Mari stopped crying and looked up, her blue eyes wide in surprise.

“What’d you do that for?” she asked in a tiny voice, still thick from crying.

“It’s what my mom said that it's something princes do for princesses. I don't care what Chloe says. You’re a princess Marinette, even if it is only the Princess of Pastries. In fact, that’s even better than having some dumb castle or a crown because your papa’s pastries are awesome.”

Mari giggled a little, her fingers tightening around Adrien's a little. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes with her other hand. “You think so?”

He nodded his head and grinned. “Definitely.”


	3. The Fashion Designer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! First of all, thank you so much for all your views, kudos, comments, and overall love for this story! Second of all, I figured it'd be fair to tell y'all when I plan to update. As of right now, I'm planning of submitting chapters every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and every other Monday since that's when I'm not working.   
> Enjoy!

Adrien and Marinette were eight years old when Mari took an interest in fashion. 

They were hanging out in Adrien's room, windows thrown open wide and portable fans whirring around the room, filling the area with a lazy buzz. The summer heat was almost unbearable and that combined with the kids’ now empty days to do whatever they pleased left a lot of room for boredom. 

Adrien lay on the couch playing video games with a controller in his hands and his eyes glazed over as he played, too hot to move. Mari lay on the floor with a pillow tucked under her arms with an open magazine laying in front of her. The magazine was featuring the summer collections of Monsieur Agreste’s brand, Papillon. Mari had complained about being bored and hot just loud enough for Emilie to overhear, to which she immediately suggested that the two cool down under the fans and read. Adrien hadn’t been interested and immediately hooked up his gaming system, but Marinette's eye caught on the bright purple and white striped tunic on the first page and was sucked in. 

She stuck her thumb and forefinger under the corner of the magazine and peeled the page away from the others as she turned over to the next set of designs. On this page was a pretty girl in a lilac sundress and large white sunhat. Marinette sighed, wishing she could wear something so pretty.

“Adrien,” she said.

“Hm?” he grunted, not pausing from his game.

“How come you never talk about your dad's designs?”

“What d’you mean?”

“Well,” she picked at a stray thread in the pillow’s stitching. “His designs are really cool and since he's your dad I would’ve thought you’d talk more about it.”

She looked up at him and even though his eyes were still trained on the tv screen, they were no longer glazed over.

He shrugged. “I guess I never really liked fashion. That’s my dad’s thing, not mine. It's just a job.”

“But it’s a really cool job! I mean, have you seen these clothes?” she sighed wistfully, gazing back down at the perfect models in their new summer clothes. They looked so happy and like they were having so much fun. Marinette wanted to join them. 

“It would just be really cool to be able to make my own clothes. That way my maman wouldn’t have to pick everything out for me.”

The game music and sound effects of fighting suddenly cut off, making Marinette jerk her head up. Adrien had paused his game and was now looking down at her, a small grin starting to stretch over his features. 

“Wanna come see something with me?”

“What?” but she was already standing up, grinning.

“Just follow me!” Adrien put his controller down and hopped up, heading out the door. Mari had to jog to keep up with him. He led her down onto the ground floor and to room she hadn’t been to before. It was at the end of the hall and was one of the few rooms with double-doors she had seen in the Agreste mansion.

Adrien pulled open one of the doors, flipped the light switch, and ushered Marinette inside.

She took one step in and gasped, her eyes growing as wide as dinner plates.   
It was a sewing room. Against the back wall were several windows with curtains pulled closed and in front of them was a massive worktable with different sewing machines hooked up and sitting dormant, waiting for someone to use them. Dresses and pant-suits and blouses were scattered throughout the room, tacked and sewn onto rolling mannequin busts.  

“This is so cool, Adrien!” Mari exclaimed, flitting around the room from outfit to outfit, not daring to touch anything. His giggle came from somewhere behind a large pile of fabric by the door.

“It's my father’s sewing studio. He doesn’t use it a whole lot now that he's the big boss at his company, but sometimes he comes in here.”

Mari stopped in her tracks in front of a pair of pretty floral shorts and white blouse.

“Are...are we allowed in here?” She was suddenly nervous, filled with the dread of getting caught in Monsieur Agreste's personal sewing studio. She wasn’t afraid of Adrien's father, she had no reason to be. He was a nice enough man, stern sure, but nice. But something about him made her nervous. Maybe it was because he wasn’t as open as Emilie or Adrien and didn’t smile as often. He was a man who gave little smiles and said little words, gone or cooped up in his office running Papillon Fashion. She just didn’t know him that well, and she definitely didn’t know what he’d do if he caught them where they weren’t supposed to be...

“No, you aren’t, but I suppose that’s my fault for not locking the doors," a familiar stern voice answered her question. Marinette gulped and crept back around the corner to the door to see Monsieur Agreste standing in the door, looking over the two kids and the studio, no doubt searching to see if anything was broken.

Marinette saw Adrien gulp. “F-Father, I was just showing Mari—”

“Yes, I see Adrien. You should have asked first.” Something flashed in Monsieur Agreste’s eyes and Mari tensed up more, her fingers balling up into fists. But the moment didn’t last long because a second later, Monsieur Agreste's expression softened and he gave them both a small smile. 

“Are you interested in fashion, Marinette?”

Mari blinked. The ice in his expression had melted so fast it was shocking. Was he angry or was that just his usual face? She had been expecting there to be some yelling or at least a quiet reprimand and then having to leave the studio, and probably the mansion for the day. She hadn’t been expecting for him to soften and ask her about it.

“Uh-um-y-yes sir,” she stammered. “I-I really liked your designs in this summer's magazine...” her eyes slid off of him and to all of the wonderful clothes, a bit of the tension melting away.

“I see...and would you like to learn how to design?”

Marinette snapped her gaze back to Monsieur Agreste, blue eyes impossibly wide and her jaw dropped. “I...Um...Y-yes! Very much, Monsieur Agreste!”

Monsieur Agreste’s smile seemed to grow and his eyes softened even more. Something else sparked there but she wasn’t sure what it was.

“I can teach you when I have some time off after these shows. If you like, you could come over this weekend and I can start teaching you.”

Marinette couldn't believe this. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour and she was sure she’d explode.

“I’d love that! Thank you, Monsieur Agreste!”

“It’s my pleasure, my dear. Now you and Adrien better be off.” He stepped aside to let them slip out the door, which they immediately took him up on, scurrying out the door.

Once back upstairs and safely in Adrien’s room, he whipped around to face her, his face lit up with excitement. 

“I totally thought we’d get in trouble back there!”

Marinette let out the breath she didn’t realize she'd been holding. She let it out in a small whoosh and smiled. “Yeah, me too.”

“That’s so awesome that he's going to be teaching you how to design!”

“I KNOW!” she squealed, dancing around him, shaking with excitement. She picked up a pillow on the couch and screamed into it. She heard Adrien’s laugh and whipped her head up to narrow her eyes at him. It was meant to be intimidating, but was ruined by the fact that she was still grinning wider than the Cheshire Cat.

“Are you laughing at me, Adrien Agreste?”

He very much was, turning pink from trying to stifle his giggles. Now caught, he burst out laughing.

“Why are you laughing at me? Didn't your mom tell you it was rude to laugh at people?” she thwacked him with the pillow. It caught him off guard and at first he looked shocked, but then he quickly recovered and grinned.

“I'm sorry! You just looked really silly—” he was cut off when she swiped at him with the pillow again. He dodged her and sprinted to pick up his own pillow from the couch just in time to use it as a shield from another one of her hits. This time they came one after another, leaving him defenseless, stuck in between his pillow shield and the couch.

“All right, all right, I’m sorry! I'm done laughing!” he said as he let out a few more giggles.

Marinette let up on him and stood over him, her hands on her hips and looking smug. “Good. You wanna go down and get a snack? I'm starving and it’s still too hot up here.” She didn’t wait for him to answer and headed out of the room, leaving him with no other option but to follow.

 

That Saturday, Marinette came over at 1:00 with a big grin plastered onto her face. She was practically bouncing as Gabriel smiled at her and ushered her in warmly to the workroom. 

Weekends were the days that Gabriel took off time completely from work and dedicated solely to his family, but he was willing to work a few hours with Marinette if it gave her some worthwhile skills and helped fuel her passion. It honestly surprised Gabriel just how much energy and passion she had in that little body of hers. She also had a surprising amount of focus for an eight year old. She sat in rapt attention as he taught her how to draw figures for her designs. When he slid her a couple of pieces of paper and a pencil to practice on, she spent the rest of the time with her brow scrunched and her little tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth in deep concentration. When she got frustrated, he gently showed her how to fix the problem, giving her tips every now and then. 

By the end of the two hours, he let her take home her drawings and told her to practice and that they’d pick up the next Saturday. She was ecstatic.

From then on, Saturday afternoons belonged to Marinette and Gabriel where she quickly learned to draw figures in different poses, dresses, suits, and all other manners of fashion. As time would go on, Mari would move on to learning about different fabrics and how they worked, then to how to measure and drape. She would even end up dragging Adrien along so she could practice gathering measurements and making the clothes to fit the model, much to his chagrin. 

Mari had found her niche.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAN I JUST SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE GABRIEL WHEN HE'S A GOOD DAD/HUSBAND/MENTOR/PERSON???


	4. The Prince and his Princess

The French countryside spread out in front of Marinette, beautiful and green and purple in the summertime. Lavender fields could be seen for miles and disappeared over the green hilltops, stunning against the clear blue sky. A breeze blew her chin-length black hair into her face and she smiled, brushing it back behind her ear. The day was quiet and tranquil and—

She whipped her head around at the sound of a loud whoop, echoed by ruckus laughter and the thunder of hooves and the clash of metal. Just over the hill emerged three horsemen in dark leathers, heads covered in bandanas, and sharp swords at their sides. Bandits. 

She didn’t waste any time getting to her feet, lifting her heavy skirts, and sprinting in the opposite direction as fast as she could. But the horses were faster and sooner than Marinette would have thought possible, she was being yanked up off of the ground roughly and dumped onto the back of one of the bandit’s horses, forced to hold onto him tightly else she would fall off and be trampled. 

The bandit she was riding with laughed wickedly and turned around to face her. He wore an eyepatch and was missing a tooth, his bright red hair poking out from his bandana. On his neck was a tattoo with an exclamation point.

“Welcome to our little gang, Princess! Hold on tight, wouldn’t wanna lose ya, now would we?”

He spoke so informally to her and there was something dark in his words, even though he grinned. It was a crooked grin and he smelled. But despite the fear rising in her chest, Marinette swallowed it down and gripped the bandit so tightly her nails dug into his back, making him flinch.

“If you think you can get away with this, think again! Everyone will notice that I’m missing and they’ll send someone to save me, I know it! Then you’ll get what’s coming to you!”

The bandit’s crooked grin turned into a nasty scowl as he narrowed his one eye at her. “You think so, do ya? And who’d come for you? Your prince? A knight in shining armor perhaps?”

He and the rest of the bandits broke into mocking laughter, making gooseflesh rise on Marinette’s arms. But once again, she ignored her fear and held her chin up high. “Yes, that’s right!”

The bandits only laughed at her again.

“Now shut up until we get to the tower. I don’t wanna hear ‘nother word you say or else,” the bandit in front of Marinette threatened. There was enough ice in his tone to make her do just that.

They rode across the French countryside for what must have been hours. The daylight waned, the sun set, and the stars came out with the moon. They rode on until they came to a forest and in the heart of it, a solitary tower. It was surrounded by thorn bushes and growling beasts. A much louder and terrifying growl came from up above in a large cave above the tower. Smoke trailed out and Marinette saw a pair of two yellow eyes. She gulped. A dragon…

The bandits came to a stop at the base of the tower and their leader, Marinette’s riding partner, dragged her off the horse and into the tower. He dragged her up a spiral staircase that seemed to go on for ages before they arrived at the top where there was a single bedroom.

“Have fun, Princess,“ the bandit sneered, depositing her onto the bed. “This is your new home.”

“No wait!” she protested, trying to run back out the door, but the bandit was faster and slammed the door on her, disappearing back down the steps and laughing viciously. “No…no wait…” Marinette couldn’t stop the tears now, the tears she’d been holding in all day. They poured down her cheeks as she sobbed into the grain of the wood, her cries echoing over the valley and into the night.

 

When Prince Adrien had heard that Princess Marinette from the neighboring kingdom had been captured by wild bandits, he wasted no time in pursuing them. His father protested that he should bring an army, but Adrien shrugged him off. That would take time and he didn’t have any to waste. If he hurried, he could catch the bandits and save Marinette. He donned his armor and mounted his steed and took off, sailing on the wind in hot pursuit.

“Don’t worry Marinette,” he murmured to himself. “I’m going to save you.”

It took all day, but Adrien finally found their trail and followed it into the forest. The trail ended at a solitary tower surrounded by sharp thorn bushes.   
“Marinette!” he shouted up to the tower. 

From its single window, a soft light glowed. A shadow moved and then Marinette was leaning out the window, her blue eyes growing wide when she saw him.

“Adrien look out!” she cried right before a bear’s roar drowned out all sound. He whipped around and drew his sword just as the bear started to charge him. He swiped his sword at the beast and killed it in a single blow, but once it fell, a wolf emerged from the thicket of trees and howled, waking the entire forest. All sorts of wild sounds, not all of them entirely human, echoed back and raised the hairs on the back of Adrien’s neck. 

The wolf charged and he cut it down before turning and sprinting towards the thicket of thorns. It wasn’t easy because every few feet, wild animals or monsters would attack him and he was forced to defend himself by slaying the beasts. But they eventually stopped coming and he was finally able to start hacking away at the thicket.

The thorns scratched at his skin and pierced and poked him, but he continued on. He would save his princess, if that was the last thing he ever did! He found new strength in this and continued to hack at the branches and soon was on the other side. 

But the fight was not over yet. 

A roar like thunder—no, louder than thunder—shook the ground and froze Adrien to the spot. The sound of tremendous flapping wings echoed in his ears and from way up above the tower, in the massive cave, a dragon emerged. It was almost as big as the tower itself and its black scales glinted in the moonlight. It spotted Adrien and swooped down, landing with a tremendous THUD right in-between Adrien and the tower. Its putrid yellow eyes narrowed at him as it opened its gaping maw, revealing rows upon rows of rotted, yellow, and very sharp teeth. The dragon took in a massive breath and Adrien immediately realized what it was doing. Then the ball of fire came.

He dodge-rolled to the side just in time to avoid being fried like a kabob. The air was suddenly sweltering and the remaining thorn bushes behind him had caught fire, creating a great wall behind him. 

There was no escape.

Knowing what he had to do, Adrien glared up at the beast, brandished his sword, yelled out a battle cry, and charged right at the monster.

The dragon snapped at him with its glinting teeth, but he jumped out of the way. It swiped at him with terrible, black claws, but he dodged those too. Another wall of flame tried to stop him in his tracks, but it did not catch him.  
Once he was close enough, Adrien roared and jumped, plunging his sword deep into the dragon’s chest. Black blood spurted out, splashing his face, his armor, and getting stuck in his hair. 

The dragon’s agonized cry split the heavens right before it fell over, dead at Adrien’s feet.

But he didn’t stick around long enough to soak in the glory of just having slain a dragon on his own. He had a princess to save.

He yanked open the door at its base and ran up and up and up and up. All the way up until he arrived at the final landing at the top. So close…

He closed his gloved hand over the door’s handle and yanked it open, the anticipation and overwhelming happiness of seeing Marinette turning sour, then dying when he saw a vicious bandit standing in the middle of the room, holding a knife to the princess’s throat.

Adrien knew this bandit. Everyone in his kingdom who was paying attention who this was. 

“Captain Nath,“ he growled. “And here I thought I’d run you out to sea for good last time.”

Nath chuckled humorlessly. “Ya thought so, but that’s where I had you fooled. I found two other men and they joined me as we sailed down around Africa and back up to the bottom of France and washed ashore before travelling back up North, pillaging villages, killing anyone who tried to stop us, until we found her,” he gestured to Marinette, who was trying to lean away from his knife. 

“Let. Her. Go,” Adrien commanded, his words coming out clipped and dark.

Nath laughed again, but this time he was amused. He was laughing at Adrien.

“Do you really think it would be that easy?”

Adrien smirked. “No, but I figured it was worth a shot. Now duel me, we’ll fight to the death. Or you can just give up right now and let the princess go so I can spare you your sorry life.”

Nath scoffed, letting go of Marinette and stepping in front of her, pulling out his own sword. Adrien noticed Marinette step back and out of the way slowly, edging towards the window.

Adrien and Nath crossed swords as a formality, but a second later, Nath snapped his own rapier and stabbed at Adrien. The prince dodged and slashed out at the bandit captain. They went back and forth, using up the entire room dodging, parrying, blocking, and thrusting their swords at each other, trying to get the winning shot.

Adrien hopped up onto the bed and brandished his sword, elegantly flipping it around before pointing it at Nath’s heart. 

“I’ve got you now! Do you have any last words, Captain?” 

“Not for you, Prince.”

Adrien then jumped off the bed and lunged. Nath tried to block him and was too slow to stop Adrien’s blade from piercing his heart. Nath coughed, blood spattering his chin, and then sunk to his knees and fell in a heap at the ground.

The rogue was no more.

Adrien wiped the blood off his blade with his sleeve and returned it to his scabbard. He lifted his head, his eyes meeting Princess Marinette’s blue eyes, wide with shock from what she had just witnessed.  
  
“I’m sorry you had to see that, Princess, but you’re safe now. No one will bother you ever again, not with me protecting you.”  
  
“You…you saved me. Thank you, my daring prince.”  
  
“It was what anyone would have done,” he responded humbly.  
  
Marinette shook her head. “You’re the only one who came for me. You slayed all those beasts, hurt yourself cutting those thorns, slayed a dragon, and rescued me from a vicious captain of thieves. You’re truly brave…I want to thank you.”  
  
“Your thanks is enough,” he whispered. Marinette shook her head and leaned in, quickly pecking him on the lips in gratitude.  
  
“Nath! Dinner’s ready! It’s time to come home!” Just like that the illusion was shattered.   
  
The fantasy world around them melted away and left three eight year olds standing in the middle of the park in the waning summer light. Nath lay in the grass, a stick stuck in his armpit, and Mari and Adrien stood a pace off. Mari had jumped away from Adrien at the sound of Nath’s mother’s voice and Adrien stood there, his green eyes wide in shock. Nath’s mother was standing at the park gates, waiting. She was a pretty woman with the same flaming red hair as her son and dressed in an an old t-shirt and capris, her clothes splattered in paint. She looked more like she just finished with one of her paintings to submit to the art gallery than coming back from preparing dinner.  
Nath opened his eyes and sat up, dropping his stick to the ground.  
  
“I gotta go. I’ll see you guys later, okay?”  
  
“Okay, see you later Nath,” Marinette said, giving him a small smile. At the sight of it, Nath smiled back at her. “Thanks Mari.” His eyes travelled to Adrien.. “See ya later.”  
  
“Yeah, see ya.,” Adrien returned, dropping down from the bench and discarding the stick. They both watched as Nath jogged to his mother and as both of them left up the street.  
  
When they were gone, Adrien grinned and turned back to Mari, who was pretty pink in the face.  
  
“You kissed me.”

Mari’s face turned as red as Nath’s hair as glared at Adrien. “I was playing the part! The princess always kisses her rescuer! That’s why they live happily ever after! Don’t make me regret it because I’m pretty sure I just got cooties from you.”

“Uh huh, sure.” Adrien wasn’t buying it, his grin growing crooked with mischievousness. “So now you know you have to marry me right?”  
  
“What?! N-no I don’t!”  
  
“Sure ya do. If you kiss someone, that means you’re going to marry them.”  
  
Mari crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively and scoffed, rolling her eyes. “It does not.”

He shrugged and sidled up to her. “Maybe not, but will you marry me?”

“What? No!”

“Not right now, dummy. When we’re older.”  
  
“It’s still a no. And besides, I can’t marry someone who’s shorter than me.” It was true. Mari was taller than him by an inch or two even though they were the same age. Adrien wouldn’t give up though and was still grinning.   
  
“So if I grow taller than you like this,“ he stretched his arm up as far as it would go and created a line with his hand over her head, “You’ll marry me, right?”  
  
Mari was grinning now, though her arms were still crossed. “How ‘bout we see if the time actually comes, shortie?”  
  
Adrien lowered his hand back to his side. “Oh, it’ll come, just you wait.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah,” Mari rolled her eyes, clearly an unbeliever. She glanced over to her house, then back to him. “You’re still staying for dinner, right? Race you there?”  
  
“Oh, you’re on. Getreadyset GO!” He took off, fast on his little legs.  
  
“Oh you cheater! I wasn’t ready!” Mari chastised as she followed him. Their laughter echoed off the buildings and traveled down the street until it faded into the setting Paris sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if part of the end scene sounds familiar (the height difference and banter) that's because it is. I asked permission from ceejles to use the idea and dialogue from their fanart since it was the inspiration for this fic in the first place. I wanted to honor them in a way and it was just too cute to try and not use! (so you bet I'll be using part two ;) )
> 
> Here is the link to the artwork if you haven't seen it yet (ceejles is an amazing artist like omg)   
> http://ceejles.tumblr.com/post/145356362638/an-au-where-adrien-was-shorter-than-his-best


	5. Gone

Adrien was 12 years old the night of the thunderstorm. It was a horrific storm, the worst Paris had seen in years. These kinds of storms only usually surfaced in the south of France during late summers and early autumns; it was incredibly rare for this kind of storm to happen up north, especially in early April. Rain came down relentlessly in fat drops, pelting everything and anyone unfortunate enough to be caught outside that night. The city quickly flooded, the water raising above the ankles in certain spots. Thunder boomed so loud, it shook buildings so hard that anything hanging on the walls crashed down from their hooks. Lightning flashed and lit up the city like it was high noon, jagged tendrils of electricity cutting the heavens in two. It was as if the very heavens were angry with Paris and would not give up until the city either repented or was reduced to rubble, whatever came first.

Another crack of lightning and crash of thunder had Adrien bolting up in bed screaming.

“MOM! MOOOOOM!”

He sat in bed with all the covers pulled tightly over his head. He shook so hard that his back, neck, and shoulders started to ache. He couldn’t move though, he didn't dare to move. He squeezed his eyes shut against the tears that threatened to spill over. They came anyway, coating his already slick face, salty tears mixed with salty, cold sweat. Sobs wracked him and he wrapped his arms around his legs, keeping as tight and still as he could. The storm, the loudness of it combined with the nightmare he just had...He didn’t even consider being embarrassed that he yelled for his mother after having a bad dream. He was twelve years old, and sure he wasn't a kid anymore, but he was too scared to even consider his pride. He was terrified and he wanted his mom.

“MOM!” he yelled again after another bout of thunder shook the house. He heard his bedroom door fly open and he tensed. The monsters had heard him and were coming for him now.

“Adrien?! Adrien my darling, what’s wrong?” her frantic voice was heard a second later over the pelting of the rain against his large floor-to-ceiling windows. He heard her moving across the room until she sank down beside him on the bed. She found the edge of his blanket and lifted it up, revealing a very shaken boy with wild blond hair sticking up at all angles. His green eyes were wide with fear and his skin had drained of all color. Sweat shone on his skin and made the edges of his hair stick to his temples and forehead. He was trembling so hard it hurt.

He felt her slender arms move around him and pull him to her chest. He closed his eyes, sinking into her. Her fingers—piano fingers, delicate and long—wove through his damp hair as she cooed over him. 

“My darling, what's gotten you like this? What’s wrong?”

“I..” his voice shook, “I had a bad dream. And the storm...”

“It’s a scary one, isn’t it?”

He nodded. Another crack of thunder that caused him to jerk violently. His mother’s arms tightened around him.

“Shh, shh, not to worry. I’m here, nothing’s going to get you,” she whispered, her lips inches from his ear. Her words softened him, releasing all the tension in his muscles and spreading warmth through him.

“Want to talk about your dream?”

He started to shake his head, but froze. His mother would understand. Maybe she'd banish the nightmares for good.

“I-In my dream, there were monsters. I don't know what they looked like, but...But they were completely black and almost made out of smoke. They could disappear whenever they wanted. They—they laughed at me and were taunting me and then...Then you were there. The monsters, they circled you and laughed and sang and then they all jumped on you and then there was only black smoke and I couldn’t see or hear anything and when the smoke lifted you were gone!” He broke into a new fit of sobs, turning his face into her chest. As he shook in her arms, she just traced comforting circles against his back. He felt a vibration go through her chest and he heard it a moment later, she was humming. It was soft and could barely be heard over the storm, but she was humming the same song she used to sing to him before bed. It was a soft, lilting melody like a songbird’s, bright and summery and warm. 

He sighed as he listened to it, relaxing even further in her arms. The tears stopped coming and started to dry on his cheeks. His eyelids started to feel heavy and they drooped until he couldn't hold them open anymore. He sighed and let the warmth spread over him like a soft blanket and wrap him up. He couldn't hear the storm anymore, just his mother’s songbird melody.

  
Adrien fell asleep pretty quickly and Emilie smiled as he relaxed in her arms. She continued to sweep her fingers through her son’s hair, just enjoying this moment she had with him. He was growing up so quickly and he was getting so independent, but she was glad for these moments in a way. Asleep, he looked younger, more like the little boy she remembered running through the halls, needing her to kiss bruises and put Band-Aids on cuts. Her little boy who chased ladybugs and cried after they died after living in a jar for a day. Her little boy who loved chocolate chip cookies, and croissants, and pain au chocolats and would come back to her sticky and covered in chocolate. Her little boy who saved princesses from dragons with sticks for swords. She was glad her baby boy still needed her to comfort him sometimes. At least she could still do this before he grew up completely and then wouldn't need her. But at least that was a long way off. At least he was still here now.

She smiled and laid him down back into the bed, tucking the covers up to his chin. She leaned down and pressed her lips to his forehead.  
“I love you, Adrien,” she whispered, then let herself out.

 

Adrien woke up to red and blue lights flashing into his bedroom and the muffled sounds of adult voices talking over one another. He cracked his eyes open, feeling the dried tears and gunk from the night before break apart. He rubbed it away, taking a long, sobering breath. The dawn was just breaking, it was early. The rain had stopped and it looked like it was going to be a good day.

So why then were there blue and red flashing lights coming through his window?

He pulled himself out of bed and padded over to the window and what he saw froze him to the core. Outside, a police cruiser sat in the courtyard just before the mansion's front doors and a couple of policemen were in an intense discussion with his father. 

His father looked haggard, his hair unusually messy. He wasn’t even dressed all the way, just in an untucked, rumpled dress shirt without a tie, and rumpled slacks. He was gesturing frantically at the two policemen, who were doing their best to calm Monsieur Agreste down. Perplexed, Adrien turned away from the window and made his way downstairs to the front doors. As he neared, the muffled voices got louder until he could understand their words through the cracked open door.

“...doing everything in our power to find her, Monsieur Agreste. Please, go back to sleep and we’ll handle this.”

“How can you expect me to sleep after this? My wife is gone and I don’t know what happened to her!”

Adrien's insides turned to ice and time seemed to slow down. His mom was gone? But...She'd just been here a few hours ago with him. He’d fallen asleep in her arms. She couldn’t just be gone.

“She's only been gone for a few hours, not enough time for an official missing person's case,” one of the policemen said gently.

“And you expect me to wait around until it’s been long enough for her to be missing?!” his father roared, making Adrien jump. His father never yelled. He’d never heard his father like this.

“I’m sorry sir, but this is all we can do for the mom—” the policeman stopped when he saw Adrien at the door. He had crept forward until he was right behind his father and now the everyone was staring at him. His father’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Adrien braced himself to get yelled at again, but Gabriel’s voice was quiet--hard as iron, but eerily quiet, “Adrien, go back inside.”

Adrien glanced between his father and the two policemen. “What’s going on? Is Mom missing?”

“I said, back inside.”

“But—”

“Now, Adrien.” The ice in his father’s voice shocked him enough to nod and back into the foyer and close the door behind him. He didn’t go further than that though. He just stared at the wood, the conversation replaying itself in his head. _Gone, don’t know what happened, not enough time for an official missing person’s case..._ It just didn’t seem real. His mother had just been here with him. She'd sung to him and ran her fingers through his hair and told him nothing would get him because she would be there. And suddenly she wasn’t and she was nowhere to be found? It just didn’t make any sense to him.  
His heart was beating fast against his chest, so fast he was afraid it would burst out of his skin and fall onto the floor. His palms began to sweat and he suddenly felt dizzy. He couldn't think, couldn’t even focus on the door in front of him. His mind was everywhere and nowhere at once and he found himself pacing the foyer.

Was she kidnapped? Did someone sneak in and take her? But the alarm hadn’t gone off...

Or had she gone out on a morning run and just never come back? People were snatched off the street all the time.

Or had she left them of her own accord? Had she left them—him? He shook his head. No, he couldn't believe that. If he let himself believe that...He shuddered.

The front door opened and he whipped his head up to see just his father step in and softly close the door behind him. He looked exhausted and aged beyond his years. His shoulders sagged and there were worry lines etched into his father’s face. There were heavy bags under his eyes and his hair was mussed no doubt from running his hands through it. He looked worse than Adrien felt.

His father sighed heavily and leaned against the front door, looking ready to collapse.

“Father...?” Adrien dared to ask. As soon as he spoke and Gabriel realized he wasn’t alone, he straightened his posture and his blue-gray eyes snapped to Adrien. His expression stiffened, as if he were putting on a mask for his son. Adrien decided to continue, clearing his throat.

“Um...What happened to Mom?” he asked in a quiet, unsure voice. After his father snapping at him, he wasn’t sure how his father would react to anything now.

Gabriel simply shook his head. “I’m not sure yet, Adrien. I will be in contact with the police until they can solve this. But as of right now, we only know she’s gone and it looked like she left without a struggle.”

“But...But it doesn’t make sense that she left us. She loves us and wouldn’t ever abandon us!” Adrien was speaking fast, trying to get everything out at once. “I only saw her a few hours ago. She sung me to sleep and—”

“I don’t believe she'd abandon us either, Adrien...But we have to think of all the possibilities,” his voice cracked at that, but he cleared his throat and continued on. “We’ll have to adjust. I’ll need to hire an assistant to help me with my work and your homeschooling. You’ll continue your piano, fencing, and Chinese lessons. Life will go on.”

Adrien stood there, dumbstruck. “So we...we just move on as if she never existed?”

“That’s not what I’m saying, Adrien, and you know it,” Gabriel snapped, yet his voice never raised. “But we cannot sit here idle and wait. We have to continue on with life, like your mother would have wanted us to, until we can get her back.”

Adrien nodded, a lump in his throat, absorbing the information. 

“Okay...I...Um...okay. I-Is it okay if I go over to Mari's for a bit?”

“Absolutely not. It’s early and she's probably asleep. You wouldn't want to bother the Dupain-Chengs at this time of day. You should go back to bed.” As if that finalized things, he turned away from Adrien and headed for his study.

Adrien felt a chill pass over him, seep into his skin, and crawl towards his heart. It was cold, his father was cold. This wasn't the father he knew, laughing and warm and excited to share his designs with his family. Adrien didn’t know this man, this mask he was wearing. His father should be comforting him over their shared loss, not leaving him in the foyer so he could go and work. His father never would have done that. And that left him alone in the cold foyer, left him to deal with all of this.

Adrien felt a lump start to form in his throat as he started to climb the stairs back to his bedroom. Once he'd closed the door behind him, he couldn’t hold the tears back anymore. He choked on them and then let them flow freely, a small wail escaping him. He collapsed face-first onto his bed and cried, screamed, wailed into the comforter. This wasn’t fair, this wasn’t fair, this wasn’t FAIR! 

He sobbed until he'd screamed and cried himself hoarse. He wished Mari was here to hug him, to comfort him, to give him everything that his father hadn’t. He needed someone. But it was early and she was asleep and his father had forbidden it. He probably thought it was no one else's business, Adrien thought bitterly. But it was Mari's business. Emilie had been as much a second mother to her as Sabine was to him. Mari loved Emilie and she deserved to know.  
Sniffing and wiping away the tears, he picked up his cell phone and punched in Mari’s number.

“Hey Mari, sorry to wake you up this early...”

 

Marinette was shocked. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe Emilie had just disappeared without anyone seeing or hearing. Even more, she couldn’t believe that M. Agreste hadn’t let them know. Their two families were close, why hadn’t he told them? 

As soon as Adrien had hung up with her, she’d thrown on some clothes, ran downstairs to tell her parents the news and ask if she could go over to Adrien's. Of course they said yes. They even sent her over with a bag of leftover sweets and croissants.

Then she ran.

She ran until her legs ached and she kept running. She ran the entire block and a half to Adrien’s house where Adrien was already waiting at the gate. As soon as it was open and nothing was in between them, Mari launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his chest and squeezing tight. She felt tears start to leak from her eyes and into his pajama shirt. She felt his arms tighten around her and his face bury itself in her neck and begin to quietly sob. The sound of his tiny, nearly silent gasps and the feel of his shaking shoulders was enough to break her. Adrien shouldn't be like this. Her best friend didn’t deserve this.

They were about the same height now, Mari distantly noticed.

“Hey, Adrien...we should probably go inside...” she whispered, digging her nails into his back. He sniffed and nodded.

“Okay," he whispered back.

Mari pulled herself away from him and instead took his hand, squeezing it tightly before leading him back into the house. He was quiet the entire way to his room, quietly sniffling and crying. In his room, she gathered all of the pillows and blankets she could find and piled them onto his bed. She pulled back the covers and gently had him lie down. She joined him, sitting up in the bed as he hugged her and used her stomach as a pillow. She arranged the pillows and blankets into a fluffy nest, and then she just a sat there as he let it all out. All she could do was run her fingers through his hair and draw patterns on his arm and back, crying silently with him.

They both fell asleep eventually, buried in the layers of blankets and pillows and tangled up in each other, clutching each other for comfort.

Many things about Adrien's life changed that day. Gabriel hired an assistant, a stone-faced woman named Nathalie, as well as a chauffeur and bodyguard for Adrien who was a large man resembling a gorilla. He never spoke. Nathalie was in charge of making both Gabriel and Adrien’s schedules, as well as homeschooling Adrien and taking care of the extra things for the fashion company. Adrien was no longer allowed to go out unless it was for fencing or modeling and sometimes to go to Marinette's house. But even then it was with the Gorilla in tow.

Gabriel almost never came out of his office and when he did, it wasn’t to see how Adrien was doing or eat together like they had as a family. Gabriel started working on the weekends and it was rare for Adrien and Gabriel to cross paths thereafter. If Gabriel ever did venture outside the mansion, it was usually to go run a show or attend a gala. The more Gabriel threw himself into his work, the faster the company grew and the more prestigious it became. Soon, Gabriel Agreste was one of the top designers in all of Paris. 

The more the company grew, the more it needed. Staff, models, interns, etc. Then one day, Gabriel approached Adrien after his piano lessons. He told him that he’d have Adrien start modeling, saying it was important that Adrien contribute to the family business. It was important for Adrien to be the face of the company since he was the son of the head of the company. Who better than him to represent his father?

Adrien agreed, if only because he was afraid what would happen if he said no, and because he thought it would make his father happy. His father was never happy anymore. If anything, Adrien had come to expect the cold mask more than who he remembered his father being.

The police called off Emilie’s missing person’s case eventually, saying it was a lost cause and there was no trail. The night they did that, Adrien called Mari again and she came over and ended up spending the night, tangled up in Adrien’s bed with him again though they hardly slept. Adrien had too much on his mind and he talked non-stop, sobbed constantly, and ended up passing out at 3 o'clock in the morning from being too exhausted. Mari stayed up the entire time with him, trying to comfort him and whisper good things in his ear even after he’d fallen asleep.


	6. The Baker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Andrew: my beta reader, #1 supporter, and because you requested a flour fight back in April.
> 
> Also to all of you readers: I'm sorry I've been late with a few of my chapters. Life goes on, but I will try to update as much as possible on my days off! It may not be one per day like I hoped at the beginning.

Adrien was 13 years old when he’d had enough. It’d been a year since the investigation to find his mother was called off, not that it felt like it’d been that long. Since then, Adrien’s free time had basically disappeared except for every once in a while where he’d be allowed to visit Mari or vice versa. He’d seen Chloe too, but not as often. Really, the only times he saw the mayor’s daughter anymore were professional, upper-class functions his father used to promote the company and show Adrien off as the face of it, and the yearly trip their family did together. The only reason that hadn’t been stopped was that it was a great business opportunity. After all, if the Agrestes were tight with the mayor’s family, then it would be easier to get around in the business and political world. But to Adrien, these excursions were stifling and he hardly ever enjoyed them. Chloe was almost always bitter because in her head, Adrien had chosen Marinette over her and when she wasn’t bitter, she was always trying to flirt with him. That had happened only recently and Chloe had become super clingy whenever they saw each other. It didn’t necessarily make him uncomfortable, but he would have much preferred her not to hang on his arm every waking moment they were together.

Adrien didn’t have much control over his life anymore, and he couldn’t stand it. There was too much going on between homeschooling, piano, Chinese, fencing, and now modeling. He was stifled, he could hardly breathe, he needed to be able to control something.

So that’s how he found himself walking into the Dupain-Cheng bakery one rare Sunday when nothing was going on for him. It’d been a while since he’d seen Mari considering the company had been exceptionally busy with start of the autumn lines and shows. But now it was November and things were dying down, or as much as they could, until Christmas and big haute couture show in January.  
Once he opened the door and stepped into the warm, cozy bakery, he let out a slow sigh of relief, feeling the autumn chill melt off of him until he was warmed to the bone. The bakery smelled the same, like fresh bread, sugar, and chocolate, but now there was a new scent. It was sweet and creamy and a little earthy… pumpkin. Of course, it was still fall so there would be a wide selection of pumpkin-flavored treats being made: tarts, pastries, cupcakes, just to name a few.

The bell’s ding filled the small space, and at its alert, Tom came out from the back wearing an apron. He had probably been in the middle of working on an order. When his eyes fell on Adrien, a giant grin broke out from underneath his bushy mustache and his eyes twinkled. 

“Adrien my boy! I haven’t seen you in a while, please come in!”

Adrien returned the grin and rushed forward to greet Tom, who was stepping around the counter. The two met in a bone-crushing hug—well, bone-crushing for Adrien. He couldn’t even get his arms completely around Tom, despite having grown within the past year. But Tom hugged him with so much excitement that Adrien felt his spine pop back into place from top to bottom. Tom laughed and let the boy go, stepping back a few paces and looked him up and down.

“You hungry, kiddo?”

“Uh…” before he could give a proper answer, a loud growling erupted from his stomach, which caused his face to grow hot with embarrassment. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “I guess so…”

“Then head on up. Sabine’s making lunch right now. She’ll be more than happy to get a plate down for you.”

“Um, thanks Tom…but uh, before I do, I was wanting to ask you something.”

Tom blinked, obviously surprised. “Oh? And what’s that?”

Adrien big, green eyes wandered the shop, skimming over everything except for Tom. He eventually settled for the countertop, quickly glancing up at Tom and then back down.

“I was um…I was wondering…Y’know if you’re willing…I-Iwannalearnhowtobake,” he knew he'd spit the last part out too fast, but it was the only way it would get out. He glanced back at Tom who had his brow furrowed.

“Sorry, didn’t catch that. Wanna repeat it one more time for me?

“S-sorry. Um,” Adrien took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He didn’t know why he was so nervous, this was Tom, he’d practically been a second father to him since he was five. If anything, his own father was more intimidating than the big grizzly bear standing in front of him. Adrien had hardly even seen Tom upset and even then he couldn’t remember any clear times. Tom was a gentle, patient man; he could do this. Adrien opened his eyes again and looked up at the baker.

“I want to learn how to bake.”

Tom’s eyes widened in surprise. 

“I didn’t realize you were interested in baking.”

Adrien flushed deeply. His face was as hot as an oven.

“Well I…I love what you bake, but the main reason why I want to learn is…I want to learn a skill that’s my own choosing. I’m so busy with stuff my father wants me to learn, but I…I need to do something for myself, even if it is just making bread.”

Tom’s expression softened and Adrien felt annoyance flare up. He didn’t need Tom’s pity just like everyone else’s pity or fake kindness or adoration when they didn’t really know him. He didn’t need anything out of pity.

Adrien frowned and shook his head, shoving the thought process down. Tom wasn’t pitying him, he wouldn’t do that to him. Besides, Adrien had asked for Tom’s help. Getting angry at something that wasn’t there wasn’t going to help him.

“I can teach you,” Tom’s voice brought Adrien out of his reverie. 

“Really?”

“Sure,” Tom gave him a warm smile. “Whenever you come over I can find some time to teach you. And that way,“ Tom’s voice lowered conspiratorially, “I can get Marinette to help me with the big orders.” He winked and Adrien couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up in his chest. “Now go on, Mari’s probably waiting for you.”

“Uh…yeah, okay, thanks Tom!”

“No problem kiddo,” Tom said, heading back into the bakery. “No problem at all.”

* * *

Learning how to bake was actually pretty fun. Messy, but fun. Being back in the bakery was comforting to Adrien too. The last time he’d been back here was a few years ago when he and Mari had tried to sneak an entire tray of cookies but had failed in their efforts. They were chased out of the bakery with a broom for good measure. There were other memories, including a very hazy one about a chocolate cupcake with green icing, and the nostalgia just added to the warmth of the bakery. 

It had been a week since Adrien had asked for Tom’s help in teaching him how to bake and now Adrien found himself standing in front of the long counter in the back of bakery with an apron wrapped tightly around his waist. Mari was on one side, teasing him about how entertaining it would be to see him flail around covered in flour and batter.

“Oh, don’t worry Mari. If I’m going down, you’re going with me,” he returned with a savage grin, tapping the whisk against his other hand menacingly.

Mari sniffed, a smirk playing at her lips. “We’ll see about that. I actually know how to bake.”

“Oh good, so you can teach me instead?” Adrien leaned in, his eyes narrowing. She returned the gesture, leaning in so close their noses were barely an inch away from the other.

“While that would make my job easier, it’s best to be taught by the master.”

Adrien and Mari jumped apart, looking over towards the door to see Tom walking in from the front of the store. He was smirking at the two and Adrien felt his face flush. Why was that? 

“You ready?” Tom asked, pulling out ingredients like flour, sugar, and other basic supplies. 

“Yes sir!”

The baker chuckled. “Okay, we’ll start with something simple, like bread. We’ll practice making baguettes today.”

Adrien felt his stomach gurgle in anticipation. His breakfast had been all right, but thanks to his new dietitian, he wasn’t able to eat nearly as much as he used to at home. Another reason he’d find a way to escape to the Dupain-Cheng household. 

“Okay,” Tom placed a large mixing bowl in front of Adrien. “For this first part you’ll need yeast, water, flour, and salt. These are basic ingredient when working with anything bread or crust…”

Adrien was hesitant at first, following Tom’s instructions to the letter and was much too careful, too perfect.

He used the various instruments, making sure each ingredient was measured exactly to the proper level. Ever so slowly, he toiled to ensure  that the precise amount of salt was added to the mixture.

Mari giggled, which made Adrien’s eyes carefully slide over to her so he could see her out of the corner of his eye.

“What?” 

“You’re just--sorry... you’re just so careful.”

Adrien’s face scrunched up and his lips turned into a tight frown. “I’m just trying to get it right,” he muttered.

Mari giggled again. “Relax, I’m not criticizing. I just think it’s a little funny, is all. It won’t be ruined if you’re off by a little bit. Once you get used to it, you’ll be able to just throw everything together.”

“But right now I can’t—”

“Marinette, leave Adrien alone, he’s doing fine,“ Tom reprimanded Mari before turning back to his protégé. “Very good, Adrien. Now you just want to dump it into the mixture, turn it on, and slowly mix in the flour so it doesn’t get everywhere. We want it in the bowl,” he chuckled. “Mix it until the flour is pulled off the side, then cover the bowl and put it in the oven behind you for ten, maybe fifteen minutes. You got all that?”

Adrien nodded, his eyes wide and fixed on the bowl in front of him. Tom chuckled again.

“All right Mari, help him if he needs it. I’m going to go help your mother out front for a bit.”

“Okay Papa!” she called after him. Adrien listened to his fading footsteps before he started to slowly and carefully tip the flour into the mixer. 

Then suddenly  he felt a push on his shoulder, causing half the bowl to fall into the mixer and poof in his face. His world went white and it took him a second to realize what happened. He blinked and turned to Mari.

“Hey!” 

“Oops,” she feigned innocence, her eyebrows shooting up and her lips pressing together in a tight smile. She giggled, no doubt at how he looked dusted in flour.

Adrien glared at her, brushing himself off, before turning back to mix in the remaining flour. He wouldn’t let her get to him, he knew this game. If he responded, then they’d never complete the task at hand.

But just before he could finish, he felt another hard push on his shoulder and the flour poofed all over him, covering him once more in flour.

“Mari!” 

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just got impatient,” she said, not sounding sorry in the least.

“Well in that case, maybe you should do it.”

“Oh no, no, no, no, _you’re_ the student,“ she said, poking him in the chest.

“Well _you’re_ distracting me,” he said, going to poke her back, but hesitated before he touched her. She’d changed and he wasn’t sure if it was okay to poke her there anymore. He’d have to be more careful when touching her. He felt his face flush again and he quickly turned back to the mixer.

That’s when he heard something poof rather than felt it, until the back of his neck started to tickle. He raised a hand and felt the back of his neck, which was chalky to the touch. He brought away his fingers and found them coated in flour. Moving so fast he was practically a chalky blur, he whipped around to face her, but before he could open his mouth to yell at her, he received a face full of flour. The fine grains of the flour floated up his nose and dried out his mouth and throat and soon he found himself sneezing and coughing, creating a cloud of flour with every sneeze and cough. He heard a musical giggle through the cacophony and he wiped the flour out of his eyes and glared at her.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now,” he growled, reaching into the bucket of flour and flinging a handful at her. She shrieked and laughed, dodging out of the way. She wasn’t so lucky to get away scott-free though, because her pigtails which were once jet black, were as white as winter snow. Adrien threw another handful at her and got the entire left side of her face, neck, and shoulders. Mari tried to reach around him to get to the flour, but he blocked her, moving left and right as she tried to find an opening. Her eyes scrunched up in a glare, but her lips were still twisted into a smirk. A mischievous glint appeared in her eye, leaving just enough time for Adrien to think oh no before she attacked.  
She tickled his sides, making him yelp and jolt away from her, but she was fast too. She lunged toward him and aimed just below his ribs and he shrieked, his voice cracking. 

Mari paused, her eyes going wide and her grin only grew. “Did your voice just crack?”

“No!” his voice cracked betraying him. He felt his face start to burn and he cleared his throat. “No,” he said in a normal voice.

“I’m pretty sure it did.”

“And so what if it did??”

“Nothing, just that it’s funny.”

“Everything about me seems to be funny to you today,” he muttered.

“Well you are a pretty funny guy.”

He snorted. “Thanks for that.”

“Funny lookin’.”

He scrunched his face at her and she only stuck out her tongue, making him chuckle. The moment didn’t last though because almost immediately a voice spoke up from behind them,

“What did you two _do_??”

Both of them whirled to see Tom standing in the doorway, eyes wide in shock. Adrien looked around them and cringed at the mess he saw. Flour coated them head to toe, but also the counters, the oven, along with most of the floor. The mixer was still slowly rotating, the dough done and ready for some time now.

“Uh, um…” Adrien stammered, ready to start apologizing when Marinette got there first.

“We’re sorry Papa, we got carried away! We’ll clean it up!” 

Tom folded his arms, making himself bigger. Adrien found himself leaning away. 

“You definitely will. I’m coming back in ten minutes and when I do, I don’t want to see a speck of flour.”

“O-okay,” Adrien stammered. Tom went back to the shop and Adrien let his shoulders slump and relax.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been scolded by him before,“ he whispered, leaning over to shut the mixer off and cover the dough with a clean towel from a nearby drawer.

“He only does it when it’s his kitchen involved. And he’s not mad, not really,” Mari responded, dusting herself off. The action created small clouds of flour around them. Adrien retrieved two brooms and handed one to her and they both got to work.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. You know him, Adrien. He just has to be a parent sometimes.”

“Yeah…” he muttered, sweeping and making a small pile of flour on the ground.

“Are you okay?” her voice was quiet and small, matching his.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just…I just don’t like getting yelled at.” He lifted his head and met Mari’s gaze. Her eyes were soft. He had no clue what she would be thinking, but after a comment like that, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. A silent moment passed between them before Mari blinked and started cleaning again, wiping down surfaces with a stray cloth she’d found that remained untouched from their the flour mess.

“Well at least it was fun, right?” she shot a grin at him, which he couldn’t help but return.

“Yeah, it was. I want to do it again sometime.”

Mari giggled. “Maybe they’ll let us do it outside.”

“I hope so.”  
  
Once Tom came back to a spotless kitchen, he stayed with Adrien and Mari for the rest of the time as he mentored Adrien how to finish the baguettes. By the end of the day, they were munching on fresh bread and soaking it in oil and balsamic vinegar. Tom praised Adrien at doing such a good job and he couldn’t help but feel like he was soaring. He did it, something for himself, and it was fun and he got to eat it. Right then, he decided he’d continue to study baking with Tom and buy a cookbook to practice with at home. He wanted to learn how to bake everything the Dupain-Chengs could create, but he also wanted to learn to cook other food like dinner and lunch and breakfast and snacks. He was pretty sure their personal chef wouldn’t mind Adrien helping out and picking up a few things. The rest of the night he spent excitedly thinking up ideas for making his own dinners or daydreaming about what kind of pastries he’d be able to make down the road. He couldn’t wait to go home to the large kitchen and practice what he’d learned that day.

Suddenly, life didn’t seem quite so tedious to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kay so the baguette recipe I looked up actually suggested that it take 15 hours to actually make it, but for the sake of the plot and timeline and convenience to the characters, I took the liberty of taking advantage of the fact that this is fiction and made it possible to make the bread in just a few hours. I know regular bread only takes a couple of hours to a day to make, so I just went off of that.


	7. Enter Ladybug

Marinette and Adrien were 15 years old when their lives changed drastically.

It all started on a normal Saturday in the park. Adrien was doing a photoshoot and Mari was leaning against a tree on the sidelines. She was patiently waiting for the shoot to be over so she and Adrien could go grab dinner and then spend the rest of the night playing Ultra Mecha Strike III. They had agreed that they both were skilled enough to enter the online competition and Mari was itching to start already, wondering how strong they really were. She had played against Adrien and her papa mostly, sometimes inviting other classmates over, and she beat them all. The hardest competition for her had been Adrien, but even then they were pretty evenly matched. Playing had gotten boring until Adrien suggested that they expand their horizons and challenge other players from all across the globe. 

And now the only thing stopping her was Adrien’s photoshoot. Why they had chose to have it outside was beyond her. It was late August and it was hot and humid from the Seine running through Paris. One good thing about the school term starting soon was that autumn would be close and it’d start to cool down so she could finally wear the autumn designs she’d been working on over the summer. 

Mari sighed and shifted against the tree she was sitting against. At least the shade helped.

She let her eyes travel across the mostly-empty park, skimming across the camera equipment, the photographers, Nathalie, and the Gorilla. Her eyes finally stopped, landing on Adrien, who was currently posing by the fountain in the middle of the park. She felt herself flush, heat spreading across her face and to her ears and down her neck. She’d recently started noticing that Adrien was _attractive_. She hadn’t always been aware of this fact, but she also couldn’t tell when she’d started actually noticing how Adrien looked. But looking at him now, she gulped as she noticed how lean his build was, his deep green eyes, long eyelashes, and how _good_ he looked in the clothes that hugged his form and fell in all the right places. 

The photographer called for a break and Adrien immediately relaxed, stretching his arms above his head. His shirt rose with the action and Marinette’s face burned even hotter upon seeing the strip of skin above his belt.

She shook her head, trying to clear her fuzzy thoughts. What was she doing? Adrien was her best friend, she couldn’t think about him like this! They’d slept in the same bed when they were kids, multiple times, and it’d been fine! Before, she could only think about how she loved to spend time with him and what a dork he was, but now…now she could barely look at him without her pulse speeding up. What was wrong with her?

Suddenly a scream broke through the quiet buzz of the afternoon, “WATCH OUT!”

Marinette’s head snapped up at the noise and she watched in horror as one of the bigger and heavier pieces of lighting equipment started to tip over and was seconds from crushing an old man in a red and white Hawaiian shirt.

She didn’t think and didn’t even realize what she was doing until she was halfway there. She sprinted across the park, jumped onto the edge of the fountain and ran across the rim, the fastest way to get to the falling light.

But Adrien was faster.

He was practically a blur as he jumped over boxes and strewn photoshoot supplies, leaping and dodging over production crew members. He lunged and caught the lighting fixture, the metal clanging at the sudden stop. Adrien’s arms shook and strained as he held it up from crushing himself and the old man just as Marinette got there and was able to grab the old man’s hand and drag him out of harm’s way.

The Gorilla and a man from the camera crew caught up to them and helped Adrien put the soft box back and making sure it was stable.

Mari was kneeling down in front of the old man, checking for any bruises or scrapes. “Are you all right, sir?” 

The old man smiled at her as if he hadn’t almost died via camera equipment.  
“Yes, quite all right young lady, thanks to you and that brave young man,” his eyes flitted to Adrien, then back to her.

“Do you need any help getting home? Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Quite all right, quite all right,“ he repeated, patting her hand. “Don’t you worry about me. I’m perfectly fine to continue my walk through the park.”

“If you’re sure…” Marinette said, helping him to his feet and handing him his cane. 

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Mari glanced over to where Adrien was watching them curiously, his head tilted a little to the side.

“Go on, young lady. Your friend is waiting.”

Mari nodded and gave him a parting smile, then stood up and joined Adrien.

The photoshoot soon resumed and no one noticed the old man slipping a small brown box each into Adrien and Marinette’s bags.

* * *

Marinette collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. It was close to midnight and her eyes ached from staring at a bright screen for so long. Adrien had just left a few minutes ago and as soon as he was gone she’d changed into her pajamas, flipped off all the lights save for a small lamp at her bedside, and flopped face-first onto her bed. She groaned, cuddling into the soft fabric of the comforter and her cool cotton sheets. She could lay here for hours…

She cracked open an eye so she could actually start crawling into bed, but something brown caught her eye. Her purse, which she’d tossed up here hours ago when she and Adrien had arrived, had popped open and a small brown box with red Chinese details had spilled out onto her bed. 

She frowned and sat up, picking up the small box and examining it. There wasn’t much to it. It was about the size of a ring box and had red Chinese designs on the top, like a lot of the heirlooms her mother had brought back with her from China.

“What’s this?” she murmured, her brow creasing.

She cracked open the box, revealing small round earrings that were red with black spots, like a ladybug. No sooner was the box open though, that a bright pink light shot out, blinding her and causing her to yelp and chuck the box across her bed. Marinette cracked open her eyes against the bright light to see that it was actually a shining orb of pink energy that almost immediately faded to reveal a small red creature with black spots, a bulbous head, and long curled antennae floating at eye-level in front of her. It hummed happily, as if waking up from a long nap, and opened its eyes to reveal two huge blue orbs.  
Immediately Marinette screamed, kicking up the sheets on her bed and pressing herself up against the furthest wall, gaping at the little bug-creature. 

“W-what are you?? A mouse? Some kind of bug? A…A…Bugmouse??”

The little creature just smiled at her and shook its head patiently. 

“No!” It exclaimed in a high, sweet voice, “Please calm down, don’t be scared!”

Marinette did the exact opposite as the bugmouse instructed and started throwing everything within reach at it. The bug-thing dodged everything that was thrown at it gracefully, as if weaving around objects bigger than it like heavy books, stuffed animals, and even a cell phone was a fun little dance instead of dodging for its life. With every shift and glide it flew closer to Marinette, trying to talk her down.

“Listen Marinette, this may seem strange to you, but—”

Marinette didn’t let it finish, slamming her empty water glass on top of the creature, trapping it on the mattress underneath the cup. The bug-creature sighed, as if resigning itself to its fate and said,

“Okay, if this makes you feel better.”

“Who are you and how do you know my name?!” Marinette demanded.

“I’m a Kwami and my name’s Tikki!” the bug-thing—kwami—said brightly. “I can explain everything. You see, I’m a kwami, which is a creature who can give their chosen champions superpowers by transforming them into superheroes. My power is creation and purification. You will be in charge of purifying akumas, which are butterflies that have been corrupted by an evil power and have possessed someone who was in extreme distress. The akuma victims always have a certain object that the akuma rests in, so if you get a hold of that object and break it, it’ll release the butterfly and allow you to purify it! If you get into a situation where that you can’t get out of, you can always use your special power, which is called a Lucky Charm.”

Marinette stared at Tikki, eyes wide and jaw slack. There was no way this was happening and even if this was happening, there was no way she was doing this alone.

“Mom! Papa!”

Tikki’s eyes grew even wider in panic and she fazed through the glass and flew up to Marinette’s eye level.

“No no no! You mustn’t tell anyone about me, I have to stay a secret! You’re the chosen one, Marinette! Only you can do this.”

Marinette stared at the kwami, then glanced down at her other hand which held the ladybug earrings, hesitating for a moment that could have lasted years, before reluctantly putting them on.

“Don’t worry Marinette, have confidence in yourself! Besides, there isn’t any immediate danger, so you can have time to let it all sink in. You’ll get the hang of it in no time!”

“I don’t know…”

“Oh!“ Tikki exclaimed, “I almost forgot, one more thing! When you want to become a superhero, or if the situation rises where you need to, all you have to say is ‘transform me!’.”

“Transform me?” Marinette repeated dubiously. She was taken surprise when Tikki grinned and spiraled toward her earrings, getting sucked up into them. Suddenly she was swept up in a bright flash of pink. 

“What’s going on?!” she exclaimed, feeling smooth, stretchy fabric spread out across her limbs, squeezing her eyes shut before feeling the last part of the superhero costume click into place: a mask grafting itself over her eyes. They snapped open as the transformation wore off until Marinette was left, fully suited up, on her bed.

Tikki was nowhere to be found. Marinette glanced down at her hands and saw that they, along with the rest of her body, was covered in bright red spandex with black spots. Shaking, she climbed down from her bed and to her bedroom floor below. She flipped on the light and crossed the room over to her floor length mirror where she could get a good look at herself.

Her pajamas were gone and were instead replaced with a spandex suit that covered every inch of her body except for her face. But even then, there was a red and black spotted mask covering the area around her eyes. Her pigtails were the same, but instead of her regular hair elastics, they were replaced by red ribbons curling over her pigtails like antennae on a ladybug. She had no shoes whatsoever, just the bottom of her suit. She groaned.

“How do I get out of this…? Uh…Tikki! Can you hear me? I want my clothes back, I am not going to bed like this!”

Suddenly a boom echoed its way across the city, so loud Marinette jumped. What was that?? The boom sounded again, this time a little louder. Marinette hesitated before recalling Tikki’s words: _You’re the chosen one, Marinette! Only you can do this!_

She sighed in resignation and climbed up onto her bed and propped open her skylight window, climbing out. It looked like she wasn’t going to be in bed for a while…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did borrow some exact lines from the actual origin episodes because I wanted her reaction to Tikki and the role of Ladybug as well as Tikki herself to be authentic. Even though this is an au, I’d like to stick as closely to the Miraculous lore and the character’s true identities. I made sure to change enough so it’s both refreshing and my own take on the story since things would be different with Adrien and Marinette being so close. The original lines and reactions are definitely not mine and belong to Thomas Astruc. :)


	8. Ladybug and Chat Noir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for such a long break! Life got in the way and I just needed to take a break from writing so I could learn to fall back in love with it instead of writing out of obligation and ending up hating it. But I'm back and I hope you like the new chapter!

Adrien trudged through the front door of the mansion a few minutes past midnight, flinching as the groan from the door seemed to echo ten times louder around the foyer. He was only a few minutes late, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that--

“You’re late.” Adrien suppressed his own groan before reluctantly turning to his father, who was standing stiffly in the doorway of his office.

“By five minutes…”

“Five minutes is a world of difference in the professional world, Adrien, and because you’re—”

“Because I’m your son I’m expected to keep up those standards, I know, Father,” Adrien couldn’t keep himself from droning on the rest of the speech he’d heard so many times within the past two years. Over and over again, every single time he was late, every time he made a small mistake, every stutter, stumble, and slip-up was recorded in his father’s memory, prompting The Speech that put Adrien on such unstable footing. His father expected perfection by now, so Adrien tried his best to put on his Perfect Son mask, except it still had cracks and scratches that his father loved to point out at every chance he got. Nothing he ever did was going to be enough…

“I’m sorry,” he continued. “It won’t happen again.”

Gabriel Agreste’s pale eyes flashed at Adrien’s insolent interruption, a flare of lightning in a dark storm. But instead of further lecturing his son, all he said was,

“Make sure it doesn’t. Now get to bed, you have a busy day tomorrow.”

Adrien sighed and trudged up the stairs, muttering a “good night” to his father. He had almost shut the door to his bedroom before he thought he heard a quiet,

“Goodnight, Adrien.”

 

Heaving out a sigh, Adrien flopped down onto his bed, the day’s excitement catching up to him. As soon as his side hit the bed, he cried out as something sharp dug into it. He hadn’t taken off his bag since there really wasn’t anything in it.

At least he thought there wasn’t.

Frowning, he sat up and dug through the bag, bringing out a small brown ring box with red designs that looked an awfully like Chinese calligraphy. He definitely didn’t remember buying or receiving this, and he wasn’t one for jewelry...

“What _is_ this?” he murmured, cocking his head to the side curiously, his eyebrows pulling together. He flipped it open and--

A sudden, bright, green light shot out of the box. Adrien cried out, squeezing his eyes shut and raising a hand to block against the light.

The brightness faded after a couple of seconds and Adrien cracked open his eyes, only to have them shoot open in surprise at what he was seeing.

The green orb of light faded to reveal a small black cat, about the size of his hand. The strange creature stretched and let out a loud, obnoxious yawn. Once the yawn was out though, the cat slumped over again, as if waking up was too tremendous a task to accomplish.

Adrien gaped at the creature and he felt his mouth splitting into a wide grin.

“Wow, awesome! It’s like a genie in a lamp!” he moved to poke the little creature, to see what it felt like, maybe wake it up from its sudden slumber. But just before he could, it straightened, green eyes growing wide.

“Yeah, I met ‘im! So he grants wishes,” the cat scoffed, “No need to make a cheese out of it. Plagg! Nice to meet ya!”

Then he was off, flying through the air straight to Adrien’s foosball table.

“Ooh! This looks good!” he had landed on one of the metal players and opened his mouth impossibly wide, revealing two sharp little fangs.

“No, don’t touch that!” Adrien cried, lunging for the small cat just as he was about to bite down on it. Plagg easily flew out of Adrien’s reach and was a black blur as he headed straight for Adrien’s arcade game, specifically the big, red, round joystick.

“Come back here!”

“Ooh this is shiny! Is it edible??” This time he succeeded in biting down on it, but immediately recoiled and spit. “Ugh, not at all.”

Adrien lunged again and missed the small demon cat, falling heavily against the game as Plagg flew off to the next big thing that caught his eye, exclaiming, “What about this??”

The game of cat and mouse continued on far longer than Adrien wanted. He was already exhausted from everything that’d happened that day, he did _not_ need this on top of it.

So when Plagg went straight for the tv remote, Adrien cast his eyes around his room, desperate for a way to stop the small demon he’d let loose. It didn’t take him long for his gaze to land on the rock climbing wall and the little lightbulb in his head to light up.

He bolted for the wall and quickly scaled the wall, muscle memory taking over, allowing him to scale it in a matter of seconds. Once he reached the top, he glanced down at the small black speck that stood out against the white of his couch and jumped—

—and landed with a heavy crash onto the couch, eliciting a cry of surprise from Plagg and a grunt of pain from Adrien. He’d landed belly-first on the couch, not really the most comfortable piece of furniture, with his arms outstretched in front of him, both hands firmly clasped around Plagg, trapping him.

Finally.

“I still don’t know what you’re doing here!” Adrien exclaimed, breathing heavily.

“Fine,” Plagg answered, looking utterly unimpressed by Adrien’s efforts or the clear impatience the boy was showing.

“I’m a Kwami, I give powers. You, it’s the power of destruction, got it?” He spoke fast, as if wanting to get out all the information he needed to so he could go back to eating all of Adrien’s stuff.

Adrien just stared back with wide eyes and shook his head. “Uh-uh…”

“Alright,” Plagg said, the word clipped with impatience. “Do you have something to eat? I’m starving!”

Adrien ignored him.

“This is a joke from my father, isn’t it?” he hissed. He blinked, reconsidering what he’d just said. “Wait, that doesn’t make any sense, he doesn’t have a sense of humor…”

Plagg, obviously impatient with the boy, easily slipped from Adrien’s grip to float in front of his face.

“You can’t tell your father that I exist! Or anyone else, for that matter!”

Not even Mari…

Adrien was about to protest, but the stern glare Plagg gave him, little arms crossed over his chest, was enough to kill the request on Adrien’s tongue.

“You’ve been chosen to be a part of a superhero team, you and one other person. But it has to remain a secret.” Almost instantly, the sternness melted away from Plagg’s features and was replaced by the now-familiar anxious energy Plagg adopted when he was bored. Just like that, he took off in search of something else to destroy.

Adrien’s smile faded as another idea entered his head.

“But I’m stuck here, I barely have any free time as it is! And even when I _am_ let out, I still get scolded for wasting mine and everyone else’s time!” He wasn’t even sure if Plagg was still listening though, since he’d disappeared into the attached bathroom.

“What good is a superhero if he can’t get out of his house?”

“None,” Plagg replied unhelpfully, emerging from the bathroom, balancing on a roll of toilet paper as he unrolled it across the floor, not at all concerned for his new charge.

“That’s why all this will soon change. If you want it, of course.”

Adrien sighed and glanced down at the silver ring in his palm, the other thing that had been resting in the box alongside Plagg. It only took a split second for him to make up his mind. He slipped the ring onto his finger.

Plagg, now playing in the empty toilet paper roll, popped his head out.

“Say ‘Transform me!’ and BAM, I transform you!”

Adrien grinned. “Got it! Plagg, transform me!” He punched the air in front of him as he ordered the transformation. If he was going to be a superhero, he was going all the way, transformation sequence and everything.

“No wait!” Plagg protested against the magical winds that were already sucking him towards Adrien, “I didn’t finish explaining it to you!”

His howls were lost in the transformation though, the kwami being sucked into the ring so fast he was nothing but a black blur.

Adrien felt the magic gathering as he transformed, energizing him, giving him strength he didn’t know he had. Plagg was absorbed into the ring and Adrien shot his hand up, feeling the magic gather in the palm of his hand. He dragged a finger across his eyes, a black mask forming onto his skin. He swept his hand through his blonde hair, feeling two leather appendages — ears —appear between locks of blond hair. He drew his hands into fists and spread them wide as he felt the transformation sweep over him in an electrified rush. A burst of magic caused him to arch his back, a belt wrapping tightly around his waist and forming his tail.

He could feel Plagg’s essence, the energy of a wild predator spread throughout him and he found himself clawing at the air and enjoying the the swift, destructive, _powerful_ feeling that action gave him. He ended the transformation in what he figured was a superhero pose worthy of a wild predator — claws  at the ready, one above his head and the other ready at his waist.

The rush of magic died down, leaving him standing exactly where he had before, except he was now in a tight, black, leather catsuit.

“So cool!” he exclaimed, glancing down at himself and admiring the claws poking out of his black leather gloves. There was no way he’d be going to bed now, not when he _had_ to feel what it was like, to test out his new powers and strength, his new _freedom_.

_BOOM!_

Adrien jumped at the sound that came from behind him, from the city beyond. He rushed to the window, but couldn’t see anything despite now being able to see through the dark perfectly.

 _Night vision_ , he thought distantly. _Cats have night vision_.

“Looks like I’ll be able to _really_ test out these powers, Plagg,” he muttered, grinning ferally. He wasn’t even sure if Plagg _could_ hear from from inside the ring, but just in case.

His excitement was cut short though, when he realized he didn’t have a way to get down from the second story where he was. He couldn’t just well go through the front door, who knew what his father would say or do when he saw a masked boy in a cat suit in his foyer. No, the front door was out of the question.

His gaze fixed on the wall in front of him, made entirely of windows. He could try to jump to the ground...he wasn’t sure if his suit protected him from long falls though.

“Hm…” he said, shifting his weight from one foot to another and resting a hand on his hip. His wrist knocked into something attached to the back of his suit, that weight that rested on his lower back. He closed his hand around it, his claws clicking against the metal.

He frowned and tugged on it, the object easily coming away in his gloved hand. He brought it back around and found himself looking at a silver cylinder. No, cylinder wasn’t right. It was a baton, like those that were passed in between runners at races.

“What’s this for?” he turned it over and saw a bright green paw print stamped onto the front— one  that matched exactly the one glowing on his ring. There were two green bands running around the top and bottom of it.

How was he going to use this to get down from the window?

Almost as if the baton had read his mind, metal shot out of both ends, nearly impaling Adrien in the face. He thrust out his arm, getting it as far away as possible, and saw that the baton had lengthened itself to a staff.

Huh.

Adrien didn’t waste any time prying open on the tall windows. A second later, he was launching himself out into the crisp, cool night and toward the source of the loud noise that was still sounding in the distance. He couldn’t help but let out a loud whoop as he flew over the buildings, relishing in the echo that spread across the city.

 

The baton, as it turned out, responded automatically to what Adrien needed, extending infinitely if needed to be. He’d tried it out on short distances, long distances, and now as a balance beam. He mostly just used it like how he’d seen pole vaulters use in the Olympics, finding he could launch across entire squares in one lunge. He was shaky at first, nearly impaling himself in the efforts of trying to launch himself from building to building, or falling face-first onto the city streets.

He’d caught himself most times, and he’d only fallen into the street a few times that thankfully, were empty because of the late hour.

Another deafening boom sounded to his left, followed by a high-pitched scream that was quickly getting closer —

Adrien’s head snapped to the side, just in time to see the source of the scream  —  a masked girl  —  hurtling towards him. He only had time to let out a surprised yelp when she  knocked into him and they both fell off his baton  —  which he’d been using as a balance-beam to get him across a particularly large street  —  towards the hard asphalt below.

Acting on instinct, Adrien gripped the girl’s wrists as they fell together and just before they hit the ground something yanked tight and they _bounced_ , swinging back and forth from where they both hung tied together, waist to waist, suspended by a string hanging from where it caught on the baton.

“Hey there!” he heard himself say, “Nice of you to drop in!” he grinned at her, noticing her red and black polka-dotted mask, her dark hair pulled back into twin pigtails. She wore a skin-tight suit that matched her mask exactly, making her look like a giant ladybug.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to do it on purpose!”

It took them a minute to stop swaying and untangle themselves from each other. Adrien dropped smoothly to the ground and straightened, regarding this new girl.

“You must be the partner my Kwami talked to me about! I’m…”

Huh, he couldn’t very well give her his _real_ name. Superheroes didn’t usually use their civilian names and it could bite him in the butt when she learned that he was Adrien Agreste.

He brought his finger to his chin in a thoughtful position, quickly trying to think of anything that could go with his superhero persona, when he snapped, an idea popping into his head.

“Chat Noir! Yeah, Chat Noir.”

He was so clever.

“And you?” he faced his new partner, who was currently trying to free her string from his baton.

“I’m M-Ma-” her yoyo came free and she lifted her hands above her head, waiting for it to make its way back to her…

He yelped in pain as both the yoyo and his bound baton slammed into his skull. He rubbed his aching skull and retrieved his baton as she said, “Madly clumsy, I’m so clumsy.”

“No sweat, clumsy girl. I’m starting out too,” he shot her an encouraging grin.

They were interrupted by another massive _BOOM_ that shook the street. The air took on an electric charge that caused Adrien’s hair to stand up on the nape of his neck. A cloud of dust and debris floated over the buildings just a block away.

He didn’t waste any time standing around. His baton expanded and he backed up a couple of paces, aiming at the spot on the ground he would use an anchor before running forward and launching himself up to the top of the nearest building.

“Wait, where are you going??” he heard his partner call out to him. He turned and shouted over his shoulder at her,

“Saving Paris, right?” then he was gone, launching himself over to the next building.

 

Waiting for them across the street was the deathly calm Seine, and on one of the bridges stood who he assumed was the villain they were supposed to fight.

The villain was a girl just a little older than they were, maybe a university student. She was dressed in a skin tight black suit with some sort of material, like a cape or webbing, in between her arms and back, so it looked like she had flowing, black wings. Neon purple knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves interrupted the black color scheme and as she turned around, her wings seemed to ripple purple and black. She was wearing a purple mask and her lips were painted silver, contrasting with her tan skin. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail.

On the opposite side of the Seine, tons of police were already barricading it off, setting safety parameters for whoever was still out. They were yelling at her, threatening to shoot. Adrien’s heart hammered in his chest, and if things weren’t bad enough, the girl walked straight towards the officers and their guns, planted her feet on the bridge, and screamed something so terrible his ears felt like they were bleeding.

He watched as officers were thrown backwards, their barricades for naught. Many clutched their heads, screaming themselves hoarse, others being knocked into buildings or the river.

The girl straightened, she didn’t even look _winded_ , and started to walk away. She stopped halfway down the bridge though, and he started to wonder why when he realized she’d spotted him and his partner.

Then, facing them completely, the girl waved at them and the next thing he knew, he was flying through the air, the stars sailing past his vision until he slammed into something so hard, the stars started to dance and then all went dark.


	9. Sonore

It was reflex that saved Marinette. 

She had just caught up to Chat Noir and saw the masked figure, the akuma, if Tikki was right. The next thing she knew, it was like an invisible wall knocked into her and sent her soaring through the air. 

And then her arm was pitching forward and her yoyo was flying out of her hand and wrapping around a nearby streetlight pole, bringing her to a sudden halt that had her arms screaming, threatening to be pulled from their sockets. 

She held onto the yoyo string tight until the wave of power passed and then she was dropping — no, _swinging_ — down to the ground. 

Chat Noir was nowhere in sight, which wasn’t good. She wasn’t even sure what was going on, or what that power had been. And her supposed partner was already missing.

_ Maybe he had second thoughts about this whole hero thing _ , her thoughts whispered. She shook her head, trying to clear it. She couldn’t afford to think that way, or about him if he wasn’t here. She had to focus, or she and others could get seriously hurt from this thing.

She turned her attention back on the akuma, who was seething at her. 

“Give me your Miraculous!” she snapped, her voice high-pitched and piercing. It sounded louder, like it was being amplified by a mic, but Marinette didn’t see any tech on her.

And how did this akuma know about her Miraculous? Was the akuma after  _ her _ ? But that was impossible, she’d only gotten the ladybug Miraculous a few minutes ago! Was her room bugged? Did they even know who she was beneath the mask?

There were way too many questions she wanted to answer, but she didn’t have the sort of time to sit down and chat with this monster-person- _ thing _ . But maybe she could ask while she tried to figure out which object to break and set the akuma free…

Her hesitation to answer must have aggravated the akuma more. The masked girl let out a frustrated wail, sending sound waves shooting towards Marinette, the sharp screams threatening to make her ears bleed as she rolled out of the way before she was blasted into the night beyond like Chat Noir.

She came up out of her roll and didn’t hesitate before throwing her yoyo at the akuma, hoping to find a spot she would try to protect. 

The akuma ducked, hands flailing over the bulky pair of purple headphones to protect them.

That’s where it was then, and that’s where Marinette needed to be. A distraction would be nice right about now, but since it looked like she wasn’t going to get it, she’d have to do it herself  _ and  _ get the answers she wanted in the meantime.

“Who are you?” She shouted, swinging around the akuma to the other side of the bridge.

The akuma snarled, but answered, “I’m Sonore, Ladybug! Now give me your Miraculous or I’ll squash you like the pretty little bug you are!” Sonore sent another wave rolling towards Marinette, making the bridge roll and pavement crack and fly in all directions.

Marinette dodged the bits of concrete, swinging back around on the lamp post before that too, was uprooted by the soundwave. Ladybug? That was actually a pretty good name. Simple and obvious, but good. Maybe she’d keep it.

“And who sent you,  _ Sonore _ ?” Marinette sneered, launching herself via yoyo right at the akuma, hoping to yank the headphones off her head.

Her move was way too bold and obvious though and the next thing she knew, Marinette was being grabbed by her wrists and thrown over the demolished bridge. She landed hard on her back and rolled over the sharp, broken asphalt, the world spinning until she was free-falling.

The bridge had split down the middle and she was falling towards the Seine. Marinette threw her yoyo at the edge of the bridge and it attached to an iron bar jutting out of the bridge.

She came to a sudden stop, her shoulders once against screaming out in pain. She really needed to learn how to stop a better way or she might not have any arms to use later!

Sonore stepped up to the edge of the bridge and peered down at the superheroine who was struggling to get a momentum back up to swing to the edge.

“Caught in a web there, little bug?” the akuma sneered, a cruel delight lighting up her face. 

“Not yet!” Marinette grunted, ignoring the burning in her arms and tugged on the yoyo string. It retracted and pulled her up at top speed, knocking into Sonore and sending them both to the pavement. 

Marinette grappled the akuma for the headphones, straddling her and reaching for them just before Sonore rolled and tried to pin Marinette to get at her earrings. They both clawed at each other’s heads, trying to keep each other pinned down just long enough to get what they wanted.

Sonore threw Marinette off with unnatural strength, sending her flying to the edge of the bridge and slamming into a toppled police barricade. 

Marinette stared up at the sky, groaning. She was in so much pain. Her suit was ripped, she was pretty sure she was bleeding in multiple places, her shoulders were burning and sore. She just couldn’t do this on her own.

_ If you get into a situation that you can’t get out of, you can always use your special power, Lucky Charm! _

Tikki’s words came back to her so clearly it was like the little kwami was talking to her directly. Marinette sprang to her feet, ignoring the groaning of her body, and threw her yoyo up into the air yelling, “LUCKY CHARM!” 

The transformation magic she’d felt earlier charged the air. Pink glittering energy cut through the dense night briefly before fading, revealing an object overhead. From above her, a red and black polka-dotted curved board landed in her hands. It was surprisingly lightweight, which was good, but... what was she going to do with a curved board?

She didn’t have much time to think it through because Sonore sent another invisible wave at Marinette, throwing her back three meters. She groaned and rolled over, quickly scanning her surroundings for anything she could use to help her. 

There was Sonore prowling closer and closer with every step. Marinette eyes flickered from Sonore’s wings billowing behind her, to the curved board in Marinette’s hands, and finally landed on the tall light pole. Perfect.

“Is that the best you’ve got, Sonore?” Marinette goaded. “Throwing me around can only work so many times!”

“Then give up your Miraculous and this can all end soon!” the akuma shouted back at her. She opened her mouth and screamed at Marinette again, but she was ready this time. She held up the board and felt as the sound waves rammed into her make-shift shield  —

—  and watched as they bounced right back at Sonore, throwing her high into the air, right over the street lamp. But her wings caught on it and she came to a stop, hanging from the lamppost.

“Gotcha!” Marinette whooped, swinging up and snatching the headphones off of Sonore’s head before promptly snapping them in two and releasing the little purple butterfly.

She quickly cleansed the butterfly how Tikki had told her to do and watched in slight awe as a pure white butterfly emerged, fluttering off into the night. Satisfied with herself, she took a look around and saw the damage done from their fight: police were standing from afar in awe and staring at her, their barricades were scattered all across the street, the bridge was broken in half, and asphalt and bricks lay everywhere. Marinette herself was covered in cuts and her own dried blood.

Then she remembered she had to purify everything else. She glanced down at the board in her hand and then threw it up in the sky, yelling, “Miraculous Ladybug!” 

What happened next was truly miraculous. Her cleansing magic was similar to her transformation magic. Pink waves of energy and ladybugs streamed out from the object and flew around the city. Whatever they touched was fixed, going back to how it used to be as if there had never been a fight in the first place. The ladybugs flew around Marinette and she looked down to see her suit completely fixed and she didn’t hurt at all! 

And once everything was fixed, they scattered and disappeared, returning the night to its previous peaceful stillness.

“Wow, that was so cool!” 

Marinette jumped at the voice behind her. She whirled around to see Chat Noir standing there, green eyes blown wide at the spectacle that had just happened. She narrowed her gaze at him and pressed her lips into a thin line.

“Where were you?” she demanded. He blinked and looked back at her, turning pink from what she hoped was embarrassment. His ears flattened against his messy blond hair and he ducked his head.

“Sorry, I got knocked out,” he mumbled. “I tried to get here as soon as I came to…”

“Well it’s a little late,” she said just as her earrings started to beep. That must be the five minute warning from using Lucky Charm. “Look, I gotta go. Maybe next time, Chat Noir,” she said, not really caring if she was being snappy with him. She’d had to fight that akuma all on her own and it’d been difficult, painful, and frustrating. They were supposed to be partners but she did it all, of course she’d be irritated.

Not giving him another chance to offer up excuses, she threw her yoyo and swung away and out of sight.

***

Adrien watched as his partner flew away, shame and embarrassment burning on his face. His first day and he’d been KO’d in the first five seconds. And she was  _ mad  _ and scary…

Adrien didn’t have much time to think about the rest because he was swarmed with the surrounding police, questions being thrown at him left and right. He sighed. At least damage control was something he could do…

***

Marinette landed on her bed, her earrings giving out one last beep before the pink wave of transformation magic swept over her and turned her back into a normal girl. Tikki fell onto Mari’s pillow with a soft  _ plop _ , sighing tiredly.

“Are you okay, Tikki?” Mari asked, crawling over to the kwami. Tikki smiled softly at Marinette, her eyelids drooping and her small body limp.

“I’ll be fine, I just need to get back my energy.”

“Okay, what can I do? Do you eat?”

Tikki nodded. “If you have some cookies, those will work.”

“Okay, hang on. I think that’ll work,” Marinette said, dropping down from the bed and disappearing downstairs.

The house was dark and quiet and Marinette had to be extra careful not to stub her toes on anything as she snuck into the kitchen. She stole a few cookies from the cookie jar, and headed back upstairs.

“Here you go! You definitely deserve them,” Marinette said, placing them down onto her pillow next to Tikki, who immediately perked up and started nibbling at the closest cookie, humming happily. 

“You did such a great job tonight, Marinette!” she said in between bites.

Mari sighed and leaned against the wall. “Yeah well, I had to do it all myself…”

Tikki frowned and flew onto Marinette’s knee, dragging a cookie with her.

“You know that was an accident, right? Chat Noir’s your partner. And it was the first day for both of you. You can’t stay mad at him…”

“I’m not  _ mad _ , I’m just... I’m frustrated! He was gone the entire time and it was a hard fight and I still barely know what’s going on... just a few hours ago I was killing Adrien at video games like a normal teenager and now I’m Paris’s superhero? This is all so much, Tikki…” She choked back hot, frustrated tears.

Tikki abandoned her cookie and flew up to hug Marinette’s cheek. “Hey, don’t cry Marinette. I know this is a lot and you did your best out there. You and Chat Noir will get the hang of it, trust me. I have faith in you two!” 

Marinette wiped at her tears. “Thanks Tikki. I’m glad one of us does.”

“You and Chat Noir will have another chance, don’t worry! I have a feeling you two will work together really well!”

“I guess we’ll just have to see then, won’t we?” Marinette asked, moving Tikki over to the bedside table with her cookies. It was time for bed. 

***

By the time Adrien finally got back to his bedroom and detransformed it was nearly three in the morning. He had crawled in through the bathroom window and wasn’t even all the way in before there was a green flash of light and Adrien was sprawled on the bathroom tiles. Plagg fell and Adrien reacted just in time to catch him before he hit the tiles. The kwami was a limp ball of black fur, already whining loudly.

“I need food! My poor aching body!”

Adrien sighed. He was tired too and all he wanted to do was sleep. Not that he hadn’t done that already  —  he’d already managed to mess things up with Ladybug. He’d decided to go with that after hearing one of the police officers call her that. Supposedly, the akuma had called the superheroine by that name. It fit and was so much better than referring to her as “coccinelle girl” anyway. 

“Hello! Earth to Adrien!” Plagg poked him in the nose, breaking him out of his reverie. “I’m starving to death here and you’re not even listening!”

Adrien let out another irritable sigh and got up, Plagg cupped in his hand. “Okay fine, what do you want?”

A few minutes later Adrien lay on his bed, watching with dead eyes as Plagg pigged out on a box of Camembert cheese. “Camembert. Of all the things in the world, he had to like stinky cheese,” Adrien dejectedly said aloud for his own benefit, “and now I’m going to smell like old socks thanks to him.”

Now that he’d taken the time to relax and get ready for bed, Adrien realized how much he hurt just from being thrown into that brick wall. There was a sizeable lump on his head that would thankfully be hidden by his hair. Nathalie would throw a fit if she saw it and then the questions would come. And forget Nathalie,  _ Mari  _ would freak if she saw it. 

He was lucky tonight with how late it was, no one would have been in to check on him.

“Okay Plagg, good night,” he said, reaching for the bedside lamp. 

_ Better luck next time _ , he thought as he plunged the room into darkness.


	10. Teamwork

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh this chapter kicked my butt. I'm so proud of myself because fight scenes are literally the worst and it was so hard to write and I'm actually pretty happy with it. Hope you guys are too!  
> Also, now that I'm back in school and I'm in a creative writing class, my homework is to write on my own at least six hours a week, so I'll definitely be working on this stuff more! YAYYYY. I'm so excited for the rest of the story you guys have no idea! So much is gonna happen with Adrien and Marinette!

 

 

The next time wasn’t all that glamorous either. 

Chat flew through the air, screaming at the top of his lungs as he cleared three rooftops and landed in the middle of an open air market, sending fresh produce flying every which way.

“Sorry! I’ll come back to pay for that!” he called over his shoulder as he launched himself up onto the rooftops, flicking orange peels off his suit and leaving the crushed stall and one very shocked owner in the middle of the street. 

He sprinted back the way he’d come, towards the akuma wreaking havoc on Paris.

It was just past noon and it was a hot August day, despite how close it was getting to September. Already, Chat was sweltering in his skintight, black leather suit, but he tried to not pay attention to that. He refocused his gaze on the akuma  —  a jaded acupuncturist  —  and Ladybug. The akuma was flinging needles the length of lances at Ladybug, having already found his fair share of victims. Ordinary citizens lay scattered along the square and down the streets of Paris, paralyzed or unable to move certain limbs from being struck by the Acupuncturist’s needles and being jabbed in the right pressure points.

The problem was that the needles were still as thin as regular needles so as they flew in the air, they were nearly impossible to see except for a brief glint of sunlight before they struck their target.

_ Ladybug must be incredibly lucky _ , Chat thought as he watched her swing across the square, dodging the projectiles. She hadn’t been hit once yet. He shouldn’t press that luck by just watching on the side. He didn’t want to disappoint her again, especially after the last fight.

Ignoring the hot blush that burned beneath his mask, Chat launched off the roof and landed in the square.

“Hey Pin Face!” he shouted at the Acupuncturist. Just like he hoped, the akuma’s attention snapped to him. “You’re not looking too sharp right now. I can’t wait to see how you look when we’ve pinned you into a corner!” he cackled at his own wit. 

A groan came from behind him, no doubt from Ladybug which immediately had his cat ears flattening against his head in shame. 

Okay, maybe joking around with his partner when they were still on rocky footing wasn’t the best idea. Staying serious might just be better for now.

The akuma didn’t give Chat much time to dwell on his thoughts when another volley of needles launched at him. He jumped out of the way but not before he felt two needles pierce his arm. He cried out and yanked the piece of metal out, clamping his hand against the bloody arm, feeling the warm sticky liquid drip down his claws to the cobblestones. 

The Acupuncturist laughed, his deep voice booming across the square.

“I know all points of the body, including the ones that’ll make you bleed out in a matter of minutes! I can save you, Chat Noir, if you give me your miraculous!” 

Chat hesitated. It was tempting, he wasn’t going to lie. 

_ Bleed out in a matter of minutes _ . 

He was too young to die. What would Mari say if he randomly disappeared one day without telling her? She’d freak out and tear apart the entire city looking for him and when she found out... she’d be devastated. He couldn’t bleed out here. 

A musical laugh echoed in his memory, a flash of blonde hair and green eyes. Then again, if he did end up bleeding out then maybe…  maybe he’d get to see  _ her _ …

He shook his head, trying to clear it. The akuma laughed at him again.

“How ironic that the black kitty cat is afraid of death!” 

Chat glared at the Acupuncturist, baring his teeth.

“Chat!” He swiveled his attention from the akuma to Ladybug. “Don’t let him bait you! He’s just trying to waste your time, c’mon!” She took off and he immediately took off after her, the akuma’s mocking laughter behind him, followed by the sound of hot pursuit. 

Ladybug wove them across rooftops, between chimneys, and through alleys until they couldn't hear the Acupuncturist following them. Then she turned to Chat, her bright blue eyes going right to his claw clutched to his bloody arm.

“That doesn't look good.”

Chat smiled wryly. “It doesn't feel very good either.”

“Is it still bleeding?”

He nodded, his head light. It felt like he was floating. It made him want to puke his guts out.

Ladybug chewed on her lip and he could practically see the gears turning in her head.

She sighed as if resigning to something she didn't want to do, and then unhooked the yoyo at her belt and threw it up in the air, yelling, “Lucky Charm!”

Chat gaped at the magic that swirled around her. The bright flash of light dimmed down and a ladybug-spotted box dropped into her hands. She opened the lid to reveal first-aid supplies. 

“I'm not a medical expert, but hopefully this'll be good enough until I can perform the cleanse,” she said, bringing out cleaning supplies and turning her attention to his arm. He hissed as her touch made the puncture holes flare up in pain. 

He stared at her, his brow furrowed in confusion. 

“You  —  you used your power for  _ me _ ? Aren't you supposed to use it to beat the akuma?”

She paused bandaging his arm. Her earrings beeped, cutting through the silence and a spot disappeared from them, but she ignored it. Her bluebell eyes flicked up to him, something sad appearing and disappearing too quickly for him to get a read on.

“We're partners, Chat,” she said slowly, turning back to his arm and continuing to wrap it. “I can't do this alone and you can't help me if you bleed out or can't use your arm. So in a way… yeah, I'm using my power to beat the akuma. But I'm also looking out for my partner. We're a team, right?”

He was speechless. Ladybug didn't even know him and she was treating him like he was invaluable. He wasn't even sure if they trusted each other completely yet, but still…

The only other people who treated him like he still mattered was Mari and her parents. Nobody else.

“Uh, Chat?” He blinked, realizing she'd been talking. He shook his head.

“Uh...sorry, what?”

“Is that good?” she gestured to his now-wrapped arm, the white gauze stained red where it covered the puncture wounds.

“Um… yeah. Yeah thanks, Ladybug.” He shot her a wide, dazzling grin. 

She gave him a shy smile in return. Her earrings beeped again and another spot disappeared, leaving three left.

“What is that?” he asked, pointing a claw at her ear. Her hand came up to touch her earring, but whether it was out of self-consciousness or just being reminded it was there, he didn’t know.

“It's the timer that tells me how long I have until I detransform.” She paused. “You have one too. Didn't your kwami talk to you about that?”

He felt his face heat again and he rubbed at the back of his head self-consciously. “Oh, uh… no. I didn't really give him the time to explain everything…”

Ladybug gave him a wry smile before explaining. Apparently their power could only be used once before their timers counted down for the detransformation and they had to feed their kwamis to restore their energy. He was incredibly lucky to have her here. He could just imagine de-transforming in front of everyone in Paris the first time he used Cataclysm. Adrien’s face was already all over Paris, he didn’t need it circulated in a black mask. Not to mention the field day his father would have over it.

Ladybug’s earrings beeped again. 

“I need to stay here and recharge my kwami. Can you stall the akuma until then?” her voice shook. 

Chat blinked in surprise. She was  _ nervous _ . She bit her bottom lip and her eyes darted to his, pleading. He’d almost forgotten. She’d been so confident, so sure of what she was doing, that he’d forgotten that she was as new to this as he was. They were still trying to figure things out. This was the least he could do for her as a partner.

He grinned. “Sure thing, Ladybug. See ya in a bit.” He took out his baton and vaulted away.

“Now where’d that pesky akuma go off to?” he mumbled, not being able to help the smile that played at his lips.

***

“CATACLYSM!” Chat’s shout rang through Paris. 

By now, a crowd had gathered a safe distance away, held at bay by local officials. Thankfully, the police were smart enough to stay out of this fight and let him and Ladybug take care of this. Helicopters hovered nearby, television crews recording how brilliantly he was failing at being a superhero.

He wasn’t supposed to be using his power, Ladybug wasn’t back. But he couldn’t wait any longer. His suit was ripped all over and his skin was slick with sweat and blood. He was pretty sure bruises were forming all over his body (Natalie was gonna freak if Ladybug’s cleanse didn’t take care of them), and he only had use of his right arm. The Acupuncturist had jabbed him near his shoulder and it’d gone dead.

Not to mention that he was pinned against a wall by the akuma’s oversized needles, hanging there like a skinned cat.

He’d definitely had better days.

Cataclysm’s dark energy surged and built up in his palm, searing his skin. He clamped his claw around it, feeling as the energy exploded beneath his fist, turning it into a deadly weapon. 

He bared his teeth at the akuma. “Now you’re gonna get it,” he hissed.

With a mighty battle cry, he flung his hand against the wall. Bricks, plaster, and gravel cascaded around him like a hellish waterfall as he fell to the street below. Then he was moving, a nightmarish streak of black pushing through a rainstorm of needles.

His fist connected with the Acupuncturist’s jaw, sending him flying. Chat didn't give him time to recover. The dark, feral power left over from Cataclysm, and possibly the very nature of Chat Noir, pulsed through his veins, giving him strength. The distant roar of the crowd beyond only encouraged him.

He swung his leg under the Acupuncturist’s, bringing the villain down hard and leaving him vulnerable to Chat’s unforgiving claws.

But before he could deal any lasting damage to the Acupuncturist’s face, his ring beeped and the wild, malicious thoughts that had filled his head disappeared along with the first pad on the paw-print symbol of his ring.

“Chat!” 

He glanced over his shoulder at Ladybug.

That look cost him though. He had no sooner laid eyes on her that he was flying through the air and clanging into a nearby lamppost. He dropped to the ground, emitting a quiet groan.

He was vaguely aware of Ladybug screaming his name as his head spun and rung, the cobblestones under him doubling. 

His vision came together again and he saw Ladybug swinging her yoyo in a tight circle in front of her, the needles ricocheting off like it was a shield. 

“Go and feed your kwami! I’ll hold him off until you get back!” she ordered, her eyes wide, darting to him quickly before returning to the akuma.

He didn’t need to be told twice. He hefted himself up and staggered into the nearest alley as his ring beeped again. He didn’t wait for it to time-out before whispering, “Detransform me.” 

Plagg zipped out of the ring and Adrien felt the transformation magic wash over him. He held out his only useful hand to catch Plagg  —  all while still running. Well, limping. As soon as the suit gave way though, he immediately felt what the heat of battle had made him forget and he nearly fell on his face as he collapsed. He brought his hand holding Plagg in against his chest to protect the small creature. His lungs burned as he sucked in air that he couldn’t seem to get enough of.

“Kid, you okay?” Plagg demanded from Adrien’s protective hold.

“Do I  _ look  _ okay?” Adrien grumbled, but grateful for the kwami’s concern all the same. 

Plagg huffed and crossed his paws. “Well excuse me, kid! Last time I ask.”

Adrien sighed. “I didn’t mean it like that. Thanks for worrying about me, buddy.”

Plagg simply made an annoyed sound of acceptance. “Well now that we’ve got all the mushy crap outta the way, where’s my Camembert? We can’t go back out there until I eat.”

Adrien groaned. “Okay fine, you little cretin.” He reached into his shirt pocket for a spare slice of cheese. Plagg nearly bit his fingers off consuming it, not even being subtle about gobbling the stinky mess down.

“It’s a good thing I was carrying some of this around. Could you imagine the reaction we’d get strolling into a cheese shop looking like this?” They really were a mess.

“Just you kid,” Plagg said with his mouth still full of cheese. Adrien rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, okay fine. Can you imagine what people’d think if Adrien Agreste strolled into a cheese shop all cut and bruised up?”

“As long as you get me my cheese, I couldn’t care less.”

Adrien glared at his kwami.

“Transform me!”

***

Chat arrived on the scene to find his partner faring little better than he’d been before. She was cut up in several places, but at least she could still use all her limbs, which was more than he could say for himself.

“I'm here, sorry for the wait!” he dropped down next to her a little awkwardly since he only had use of one of his arms. It made vaulting a little difficult. It was still possible, just extremely difficult. Ladybug hardly noticed.

“No problem,” she said, “I found out where the akuma is.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It's the keychain on his bag,” she pointed to the messenger bag that was strapped over the Acupuncturist’s chest. Dangling near the bottom was a small black feather attached to a ring.

Another volley of needles hurtled toward them and they dove away in opposite directions, dodging attacks as they met back up further away.

“So what's the plan?” 

“I-I don't know,” Ladybug admitted. Worry etched itself onto her features; her eyebrows pulled together, forehead wrinkling, and lips pressing into a tight line.

He frowned and gently laid a claw on her shoulder. “Hey don't worry; we got this. You've done this before, you can do it again. And this time you're not doing it alone.”

As he said that, he realized he'd stopped being intimidated by her. Sometime during this fight he'd stopped worrying about upsetting or impressing her and now saw her as just a scared kid, just like he was, under the mask. 

She was staring up at him with wide eyes and a slightly awestruck expression. Then she blinked and smiled, nodding, worry turning into determination. 

“Okay, let’s do this!” She threw her yoyo up in the air and once again cried with all the strength in her, “LUCKY CHARM!”

 

A ladybug-spotted fishing pole dropped into her hands. Both heroes stared at it incredulously.

“What are you gonna do with  _ that _ ?” he asked, pointing at it.

“Um…” she glanced around the square, gaze pausing across the area before resting on him. “Okay, I think I have an idea. Do me a favor and distract him. Maybe then I can use this,” she hefted the fishing pole up, “to snatch the keychain.”

“Distract him, got it. I can do that,” he shot a crooked grin at the Acupuncturist before taking off. 

“Hey Needlepoint! You’re about to find out just how unlucky this cat really is!”

He whipped out his baton and elongated it until it was a staff. Without pausing it, he swung it, letting his fencing skills kick in. He got close before the Acupuncturist bent over backwards and dodged the blow. Then with lightning-quick reflexes, he straightened back up and threw a handful of short needles at Chat, who jumped just in time to avoid getting his head sliced off.

They engaged in battle for several minutes, weaving across the square and on top of buildings in a deadly dance. 

He had to end this fast, Ladybug was running out of time. His eyes landed on the edge of the roof the akuma was standing precariously close to. Then he spotted Ladybug on the roof next to them. A lightbulb went off in his head.

“CATACLYSM!” 

He slammed his hand onto the roof and watched as dark tendrils of power spiderwebbed across the rooftop towards the Acupuncturist with frightening speed. Then the roof disintegrated into nothing.

Chat had already leapt to Ladybug’s rooftop before being swept away with the debris. The Acupuncturist wasn’t so lucky.

Just as he started free-falling towards the ground, a string whistled through the air and hooked around the akuma’s waist. Ladybug’s yoyo.

“Here, take this!”

Ladybug thrust the fishing pole at him. Catching on, he threw the line out at the akuma’s bag. The hook latched onto the keychain and he yanked, breaking it off the zipper and bringing it into his claws.

“Would you like to do the honors, My Lady?” he tossed the keychain at his partner.

“My pleasure!” she exclaimed, ripping the feathered keychain in half.

A deafening roar of approval and victory erupted around the square from the crowd of citizens and law enforcement. Chat puffed out his chest, his face warming with the overwhelming pride for both himself and his partner.

The dark butterfly flitted out in front of them, but before Ladybug could purify it, dark power pulsed from it and a dark shockwave rocked the city.

Darkness was all around them, all light extinguished. People screamed.

Chat felt his legs go weak and his balance disappear, his knees buckling and collapsing underneath him.

A chuckle echoed around them, everywhere at once, magnified and yet so real Chat was sure the source of the laugh was standing right over his shoulder.

His blood seemed to freeze to a halt, chills running their way down his spine. Every hair on his body stood up.

“Do you really think you could defeat me, Ladybug and Chat Noir?” the voice was deep, and the speaker spoke slowly, calculated, unhurried. He knew who had the control here.

“Who are you?!” he heard Ladybug demand from somewhere in the darkness.

“Allow me to introduce myself. I am Le Papillon.”

_ Papillon?  _ Chat thought incredulously. Was this another Miraculous holder? Or some other entity? What did he want from them?

As if he could read Chat’s mind, Papillon drawled on, “Ladybug. Chat Noir, give me your Miraculouses: the ladybug’s earrings and the black cat’s ring. If you do, everything will go back to normal. Paris has suffered enough because of you.”

Chat cringed. That’s right, they’d already destroyed half the city in the two fights with the akuma. They’d endangered many people’s lives already, including all the people below...

A slow clap cut through the darkness. The sarcasm emanating from Ladybug was blatantly obvious.

“Nice try, Papillon,” she announced, “but don’t go switching the roles around; we all know who the real supervillain is.  _ You’re  _ the one who has been hurting these poor people and endangering so many Parisians’ lives! Papillon, it doesn’t matter how long it’ll take. We’ll find you and then  _ you’ll  _ giving  _ us _ your Miraculous!”

The sound of her yoyo singing through the air cut through the heavy darkness as she announced, “I free you from evil!” 

Papillon roared in outrage, shaking the rooftops of Paris, before a small, soft glow appeared, lighting up Ladybug who held the light in her hands. 

“Bye bye, little butterfly,” her voice was soft, sweet, and gentle as her compact opened and the now pure-white butterfly flew out. The darkness leached away and was replaced by the bright daylight of noon from before. 

Chat only just remembered to toss her the fishing pole, having been caught up in her display of power once again, and she threw it into the air, crying out “ _ Miraculous Ladybug!”  _ and restoring the city and their bodies to their previous conditions. It truly was miraculous. One moment he was aching and dizzy from blood loss, sticky from millions of cuts that stung, and then the next moment, he was cleaned up and feeling better than ever.

He grinned and jumped over to join her, presenting his fist to her. “ _ Bien joué _ .”

She glanced at his fist, then back at him and smiled back before giving him a light fist bump. “ _ Bien joué,  _ Chat Noir.”

“Ladybug! Chat Noir!” the duo jumped and turned to find a small group of reporters starting to gather at the base of the building they stood atop. “Could we get an interview?!”

Their Miraculouses beeped in unison.

“Guess it’s time to go,” Ladybug said to him. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

He smiled. “Of course. Until next time, Ladybug.”

Then she was off, swinging across the rooftops and disappearing into the maze of Parisian streets. Chat turned to the reporters, who looked rather put-out that Ladybug had ignored them and just left.

“I’m sorry to say, but we can’t stick around. It was a pleasure saving Paris!” he gave the audience a cocky bow before taking off himself, whooping as he flipped off the rooftop and sprinted off through the streets.   
  


  
  
  
  
  
  



	11. All That Glitters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See the end for a special note on the villain for this chapter! (it does contain spoilers for Miraculous Ladybug season 2 though, so don't read it if you'd prefer not to be spoiled.)

First day of school and she was late.

It was amazing, actually. Her mom had been calling up to her for half an hour before she’d given up. Not to mention that Marinette lived  _ right  _ across the street from the school and she was still late. 

Marinette paid no heed to traffic as she dodged pedestrians, darted in front of and in between honking cars. She sprinted up the stairs to her classroom; all while clutching the long, slim box of macarons her father had made for her class. 

She considered herself incredibly lucky to have made it not only with a few minutes to spare, but to have gotten there without dropping the macarons. 

At least until she stepped through the door. An arm draped around her, fingertips casually brushing her shoulder. She would have punched her assaulter in the face if not had it been for the voice.

“Mari!  _ What  _ a coincidence to see you here of all places!” 

“Adrien?!” she yelped, the box slipping from her fingers and crashing to the floor. She whirled around, the treats forgotten in lieu of more pressing matters. “What are you doing here?!”

Adrien flashed her his trademark crooked grin. “Believe it or not, I go to school here now.” He stepped around her and bent to pick up the spare macarons that had fallen onto the floor, neatly replacing them in the box before straightening back up and handing it to her.

“I’ll choose not to believe it,” she returned dryly. “There’s _no_ _way_ your father would’ve approved of this —”

“Oh, he didn’t.” His grin stretched nearly all the way to his ears, his bright green eyes gleaming with mischief. The little punk, he was being so smug about this.

“Then how are you here?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by an enormous gasp followed by a high pitched squeal. Then Marinette was being viciously shoved aside and Adrien was gone behind a yellow blur.

“ADRIEN?? OHMIGOD IS THAT REALLY YOU???” 

Marinette glared daggers at Chloe’s back, which went unnoticed as she fussed over Adrien, bombarding him with question after question: _What are you doing here? Is that the new fall line-up you’re wearing? How have you been? Why haven’t you called me?_ Everytime he tried to answer her question, she spoke over him with yet another question that he quickly just gave up trying to respond and waited for her to be done. He looked down at Chloe, his eyes glazing over slightly the way they did when he had to endure polite society at his father’s social functions. Those were, after all, the only time he and Chloe ever mingled really, other than an occasional lunch and the annual holiday celebrations. Despite the fact that they hardly ever saw each other, Chloe had no problem pretending like she and Adrien were closer than two peas in a pod.

“Uh, hi Chloe,” Adrien finally managed after the stream had ended. He put on a small, polite smile. “I actually just transferred to this school.”

“I’m  _ so  _ glad to hear that, Adrikins!” Marinette noted Adrien’s small grimace at the pet name and a small part of her purred in satisfaction. “What happened? Did your father finally change his mind about you being homeschooled?”

“Uh yeah, something like that.” Adrien glanced over Chloe’s shoulder to Marinette, mouthing  _ I’ll explain later. _

_ Yeah you will _ , Marinette thought, simmering.

Chloe caught Adrien’s look and turned around, finally noticing Marinette, her expression immediately souring.

“Ugh, you’re in the same class as me again?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I don’t know why the school keeps doing this,” Chloe put a hand to her chest and fluttered her eyelashes, no doubt trying to look sympathetic, “especially after I’ve specifically requested to be put in a separate class. It’s like they’re doing it to spite me.” 

“Yes, because the staff has it out for you, Chloe.”  _ And apparently me _ , Marinette added silently.

“Well at least that’s  _ one  _ thing we can agree on,” Chloe turned back to Adrien. “C’mon, let’s go find a seat. You can sit next to me.”

Marinette clenched her teeth together and dug her nails into the macaron box. Not that she had any ownership over Adrien, but she couldn’t help the thought,  _ There’s no way you’re stealing my Adrien _ , from flitting through her head.

Adrien glanced over at her and then back at Chloe, panic clearly written on his face. “Uh, actually Chloe, I already told Marinette I’d sit with her,” he spoke quickly as he subtly pulled himself out of her iron grip.

“Oh, Adrikins you don’t have to pity the poor thing--”

“I’m not pitying her,” his tone suddenly cold and as sharp as steel. “Mari’s my best friend and I don’t appreciate you talking down to her like that.”

Chloe blinked, shocked by his behavior. She recovered quickly though and huffed, letting go of his arm and taking a step away from him. 

“Fine, if you want to be that way.” She turned to Marinette, a glare filled with so much hate and venom that made Mari make a mental note to avoid her in the halls.

“I don’t know what you did to make him like this, but I promise you Marinette Dupain-Cheng, that I’ll win Adrien back.”

Adrien’s eyebrows pulled together and his frown deepened as she turned away and stormed out of the room instead of to the seats her lackey, Sabrina Raincomprix, was saving for them.

Marinette led Adrien to her usual bench on the second row and slid in. He immediately slumped against the seat, glaring at the desk top.

“This wasn’t exactly what I was hoping my first day of public school would be like,” he whispered to her.

She let out a small sigh and offered him a sympathetic smile.

“I’m sorry, Chloe’s a pain.”

“I’m not a trophy for anyone to fight over or...or  _ win _ ,” he grimaced at the words. It hit too close to home, she knew all too well. 

“I know you’re not.”

He turned to face her and smiled appreciatively, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Thanks, Mari.”

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth. No need to thank me,” she said, putting on an air of self-importance.

He just rolled his eyes, is lackluster smile growing into a genuine one.  “That’s not what I’m thanking you for, but good going on sounding humble there,  _ Princess _ .” 

She giggled, doing her best to ignore the sudden mass of butterflies in her stomach. She cleared her throat and decided to change the subject before the feeling could overwhelm her.

“So care to explain how exactly you’re here? You said it was your father’s idea?”

He winced. “Uh...not really. About that--”

“Good morning, class. My name is Ms. Bustier,” a woman with bright red hair pulled back into a demure bun and wearing a white pantsuit entered the room. She set a pile of books and a pamphlet on the desk at the top of the room and wrote her name across the chalkboard. Without turning around, she called, “Nino, could you please take off your headphones and join us in the front row this year?”

A quiet, annoyed sigh sounded behind them and Nino made his way to the seat in front of Adrien, immediately slumping down in the bench next to a girl Marinette had never seen before.

“Thank you,” Ms. Bustier said, “All right, let’s get started with the roll, shall we? Agreste, Adrien.”

Adrien went pale, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of a speeding semi.

“Say ‘present’,” Marinette whispered.

“Oh, okay.” He shot up into the air, lifted a hand, and shouted, “PRESENT!” 

All at once, the class burst into raucous laughter and he slowly lowered himself to the bench, his cheeks dusted pink.

“Good job,” Mari encouraged, offering her fist for him to bump. 

“Bourgeois, Chloe.”

There was no answer. Chloe still hadn’t come back from wherever she’d gone to sulk.

“No Chloe?” Ms. Bustier made a note on the roll and continued, then started class.

***

Marinette wanted to apologize to Adrien. The first day of school was always super dull, filled with introductory information that they already knew, talk of what was to come for the school year, paperwork to be filled out by parents, blah blah blah… She glanced over at him and was surprised to see that he was jotting down notes and paying attention with a bright curiosity and excitement. She decided then that Adrien was weird. Well, she already knew that, but now he was even weirder.

Ms. Bustier was just going over their midterm literature project when a loud, slow crackling  —  like ice spreading  —  sounded. Marinette’s gaze immediately went to the windows that separated the classroom from the school hallway. A faint dusting of gold was spreading across the surface like frost. It quickly built up and blocked out all the light coming in from the hall, cloaking the classroom in shadows. The gold dust gathered together, laying so thickly until it turned into a solid sheet before giant cracks split across the surface. The sound was deafening. Then it shattered.

One moment Marinette was sitting in her desk, the next she was being knocked to the ground and Adrien’s body was hovering over her protectively.

Screams filled the room, creating a beautiful cacophony with gold shards tinkling against the floor. Then a cruel, but beautiful laugh joined in. Marinette glanced up and saw Chloe standing in the empty windowsill, pale eyes glinting in the light.

Instead of her usual outfit though, Chloe wore a black, high-heeled jumpsuit shimmering with gold glitter that caught the light with every little movement she made. On her arms, the jumpsuit gave way to golden, elbow-length, fingerless gloves. Her blonde hair was now an icy white and flowing loose around her shoulders, matching her pure-white lipstick. Around her pale eyes was a mask of gold glittering dust and finally, on her head, was a pair of black sunglasses that no doubt had an akuma resting inside.

“Chloe?” Adrien said, still shielding Marinette. Chloe’s icy gaze snapped to Adrien and her lips twisted into a cruel smirk.

“I’m not Chloe anymore, Adrien. Now, I’m called the Collector and the first thing I’m going to collect is  _ you _ .” She raised a finger and Marinette had less than a second to roll and push Adrien under the desk right before a streak of gold zapped past Adrien’s ear. Where they used to be was now a patch of solid gold floor. They both stared at it, momentarily dumbfounded.

“Adrien, we need to get out of here!” she hissed, just then realizing how close they really were. Adrien’s face hovered only inches above her own. She felt her face heat up with blush and was suddenly grateful that Adrien had his mind on more important things; he hadn’t seemed to notice.

“Yeah, I know, but she’s right there! How are we going to get time to get away?” 

As if answering his request, they heard Nino shout,

“Hey Collector, over here!” There was a thud and then Chloe’s hiss. 

“Come on you two!” a new voice sounded from behind them. Marinette twisted under Adrien to see the new girl, Alya Cesaire, crouched by their desk. “DJ’s distracting her, but he can’t keep it up forever. C’mon!” 

Adrien was up in an instant, rolling back out from under the desk. Ever the gentleman, he waited for Marinette to crawl out before following them.

They peeked over the desktop to see Nino throwing erasers at The Collector, who in turn was hurling bolts of gold at him, missing by mere centimeters every time. 

“This isn’t good,” Adrien muttered. “I’m the one she wants; I can’t let anyone else get hurt.”

Marinette stared at him in utter disbelief. “So you’re just going to give yourself up?!” she hissed. 

“No, but I can distract her.” Before she could protest further, he stood up and shouted, “Collector! You want me, so come and get me!”

The Collector immediately whirled around and grinned in triumph. She raised a single finger and fired, but Adrien dodged, rolled to the empty window frame, and hauled himself up.

“Adrien!” Marinette hissed. He wasn’t seriously doing this, was he? Now she  _ really  _ needed to get somewhere to transform so she could save her stupid friend.

“Is that the best you got?” he challenged with a cocky grin, which promptly disappeared as a bolt of gold missed his head and hit the frame, turning it to solid gold. He turned and dropped out the other side of the window and ran. 

The Collector growled and sped out of the room, completely ignoring Marinette, Alya, and Nino.

Nino dropped the eraser he’d been about to launch at The Collector’s face and dusted off his hands, looking impressed. “Wow, the dude’s got balls.”

Marinette groaned. “If that’s how you want to put it. He’s going to get himself killed one of these days.”

“He’ll be fine,” Alya, commented. Marinette felt a small twinge of annoyance. 

“And why do you say that? He just lured a villain to run after him when he’s defenseless.”

“He’ll be fine because Ladybug and Chat Noir will be here soon. They’ll rescue all of us!” 

Marinette blinked, flattered. 

“Y-you’re a fan of Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“Of course! Who wouldn’t be? I mean, it’s really awesome that Paris has their own team of superheroes, don’t cha think? Superheroes were cool when they were fictional, but now they’re here in our very own city fighting against the forces of evil! I’ve started a blog about them which reminds me, I gotta go and capture as much footage as I can!” She took off towards the door, phone in hand.

“Wait, it’s dangerous!”

But Alya was already gone. Marinette bit back a frustrated growl. What was it with people around her running  _ into  _ trouble instead of away like normal people? She glanced over at Nino.

“Are you going to run straight into danger too?”

He scoffed, shaking his head. “Are you kidding? I want to be as far away as possible from what’s going on here. I’ve already had my moment to shine.”

“I guess that’s true,” she admitted. “Come on, let’s get out of here and somewhere safe. They could come back.”

They ran down to the first floor, which was as silent as a cemetery. The courtyard was littered with teachers and students frozen into grotesque, golden statues, terror written out on all of their faces. 

“Oh my god,” Nino breathed beside her as they took in the twisted golden garden. “Are-are they…?”

“Let’s try not to think about it, okay?” Marinette said, steering Nino around the statues towards the doors. “Let’s just get you out of here.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll go the other way. If we split up then it’ll make it harder for her to get all of us. Now go!”

“But  — ”

“Just go!” she pushed him towards the doors and thankfully he obeyed, but just as he was getting to the exit, a solid wall of gold manifested itself in the doorway, sealing off his way of escape.

The Collector’s laugh bounced off the walls and echoed in the large space. Marinette looked up and saw the akuma standing on the second-floor railing, hands planted firmly on her hips.

“And just  _ where  _ are you two going?”

Marinette heard Nino curse. Adrien was nowhere to be seen. Did that mean he hadn’t managed to escape? 

“I can’t let you two escape, it would leave gaps in my collection.” The Collector sneered, gold dust floating around her fingers. “Besides, it’ll leave more incentive for Ladybug and Chat Noir to show their cowardly faces!” 

“Who are you calling a coward?!” 

Chat Noir stood on the nearest roof of the courtyard, claw planted on his hip. He practically oozed swagger. He flashed a crooked grin at The Collector, a greeting and a challenge. 

The akuma grinned. “There you are, Chat Noir! And just in time too, because I was just about to add two more victims to my trophy collection.” Impossibly fast, she flicked a hand in Marinette’s direction and shot a stream of gold dust at her.

She couldn’t move, she was too slow as a civilian. She stared her impending doom in the face, mouth open in a silent scream. There was a flash of light  —

—  and she was rolling across the hard cement floor in Chat’s arms. They came to a stop behind the staircase and Chat didn’t give her time to breathe before he was hauling her up and pulling her out of the courtyard and into the nearest room  —  the girl’s bathroom  —  and slamming the door behind them. 

“Are you okay?” he demanded, eyes roaming over her frantically. His pupils were blown wide and he was pale, panicked.

“I’m fine, thanks to you Chat  — ” she caught herself, remembering that she wasn’t supposed to know Chat as a civilian, “ —  Noir,” she finished lamely.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, just wishing he’d leave to let her transform. Why was he so worried about her? He didn’t know Marinette and she was pretty sure he’d never acted like this around any other civilian. So why did he look so scared?

The sound of crackling ice filled the air and Chat cursed under his breath before grabbing her hand and yanking her into a stall with him.

“What are you  — ”

“SHH!” He crouched on top of the toilet seat and pulled her up next to him, holding her tightly against his chest. 

A second later the doors burst open and Marinette watched as the ground beneath them transformed from concrete to shimmering gold.

“C’mere kitty kitty kitty…” The Collector crooned sweetly. The only sounds in the still bathroom were the clicks of her heels on the gold tiles. “Hm… now where’d you go? It looks like we’ve started a game of cat and mouse, except...”

BANG!

“I’m the cat.”

Marinette had jumped at the sudden sound and Chat’s grip on her tightened. It’d sounded further away, like Chloe had started at the end and was making her way down the row. They had four stalls until she’d catch them.

Marinette dared not move, she hardly dared to breathe. She could tell Chat was trying too, feeling the way his chest shallowly moved against her back. She could feel his breath on her ear and could hear it rattling nervously. Her legs shook from holding such an awkward position, but she willed herself to siphon off any of Ladybug’s grace and balance. If her foot slipped, it was game over.

BANG! 

“Bummer… not here either.”

_ Click, click, click... _

BANG!

The stall next to theirs was the only one in between Chloe and them.

“Chat…” Marinette breathed.

“Hm?” His response was barely more than a hum in her ear.

“We have to do something.”

Silence except for their shallow breaths. She could feel his heartbeat pounding against her back. It was racing a million miles an hour. Then finally he whispered, “Leave it to me. Stay here.”

BANG! The stall next to them was flung open. Only theirs remained now.

Chat carefully let go of Marinette and eased himself around her, taking his baton off of its resting place on his lower back. Silently, it elongated into a staff. He stood there, muscles tense in anticipation.

_ Click, click, click… _

BANG!

Chat attacked before Chloe had the chance to discover them, flinging the door open and letting it crash behind him, hiding Marinette before Chloe had the chance to see her. She heard Chloe let out a cry of surprise before the sounds of metal clashing against Chloe’s fizzing sparks of gold. 

Then she heard the heavy door to the bathroom whoosh open and the sounds of Chat and the Collector’s battle dying away until the door slammed back into place and Marinette was plunged into silence once again.

She let out the breath she’d been holding in a single whoosh, carefully getting down from the toilet seat and opening the clasp of her purse. Tikki zoomed out and came to float in front of Marinette’s face.

“Wow, that was close!” Tikki exclaimed.

“Almost too close. Now come on, Ladybug’s been absent for too long; let’s finish this! Tikki, transform me!”

***

It wasn’t long after Ladybug showed up that the Collector was vanquished and the school cleansed and reverted to normal. As Marinette pushed through the crowds of excited students and teachers she heard bits and pieces like,

“Dude, I thought I was a goner!”

“I don’t even remember being a statue, how lame!”

“Ladybug’s really awesome! We’d be lost without her!”

“And Chat! I heard he handled most of the fight on his own…”

Marinette’s face warmed by all the praise. It was nice to be appreciated for the effort, even if she wasn’t expecting it. It never got old and it really did make all of this worth it by hearing how grateful everyone was.

She finally spotted Adrien, Alya, and Nino through the crowd, Nino chatting excitedly and moving his hands in grand gestures. As she approached, she heard him saying, “...And she was  _ right  _ about to turn me into a gold statue when Chat Noir showed up! I tell you, I was two seconds away from death!”

Alya let out an exasperated sigh. 

“Other people got turned into statues and they’re still alive. You’re so dramatic.”

“I swear, it’s true!”

“I’ll believe you, man,” Adrien said, chuckling. Then he noticed Mari standing there and he lit up. 

“Mari! Glad to see you’re safe!” His toothy grin was almost too much to handle. She felt herself blush at how excited he was to see her.

_ Calm down, Mari,  _ she berated herself silently,  _ He’s just glad to see that you’re safe. _ She took a breath and fixed him with a steady gaze, folding her arms in front of her chest and narrowing her eyes at him.

“You too, considering how much an idiot you were at luring the akuma after you like that.”

“Is that any way to thank your savior, Princess?” he met her challenge, narrowing his eyes and smirking at her in return.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, Chat Noir and Ladybug were the real saviors. What happened to you anyway?”

He blinked and turned pink, his swagger instantly disappearing. “I, um… got turned into a statue.”

Marinette laughed, quickly followed by Alya and Nino. “Well that’s what you get!”

Adrien laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah… I guess so.”

“But dude, that took guts!” Nino praised Adrien, punching him in the arm. “I guess there’s more to ya than those pretty model locks of yours. The name’s Nino,” he then offered his hand to Adrien, who lit up and shook it.

“Adrien.”

“I’m Alya, by the way,” the girl to Marinette’s left spoke up. “Reporter-in-training, Ladybug enthusiast. I’m new to the school too, so at least you’re not alone in that,” she grinned at Adrien, then turned her gaze to Nino and Marinette.

“I’m Marinette, nice to meet you, Alya.”

The bell rang and the students started to filter back into their classrooms, much to Nino’s disappointment, who groaned loudly in protest.

“We just lived through a traumatic experience! Can’t they let us off?”

“No can do, DJ,” Alya giggled, dragging a still-groaning Nino along. Marinette and Adrien followed, if a little slower. Mari glanced up at him, then back ahead.

“So you never explained why you’re suddenly at public school. Did your father set this up or not?”

Adrien sighed, his shoulders slumping and casting his gaze down to the floor as they walked.

“He didn’t. I actually signed myself up in his name, forged his signature on the paperwork, and then ran away. Nathalie and the Gorilla almost caught me, I was  _ so  _ lucky.”

“Adrien!” Mari chastised, hitting him gently on his arm. “That poor woman, having to deal with your father. You give her so much grief, I swear she’s going gray already.” Despite her chastisement, she found herself giggling which had him giggling too.

“Yeah… I feel bad, but not bad enough to let her take me back to the mansion. But you  _ know  _ how stifling it is in there, Mari, I  _ had  _ to get out! I couldn’t take it anymore and as great as it is having you for a friend, I want more. I want to be able to live and experience what normal school is like. I’m so sick of hiding in the shadows afraid of some unknown threat that may or may not be coming for me.”

Mari regarded him, her expression softening at the frustration he was showing.

“You were never the one who was afraid,” she reminded him gently. He sighed again and shot her a soft smile, bangs falling down into his face as he looked down at her.

“No, but my father is. And he controls literally every aspect of my life. I need something that’s mine and only mine. I need to make a choice that’s for  _ me. _ ”

She nodded, understanding completely. She’d seen how Adrien was treated at home, and even though she knew why his father was so paranoid of losing his son, she knew that it didn’t make it right. Gabriel had pulled away from her and had stopped mentoring her altogether in fashion design, leaving her to her own devices. The only time she could hope to get her mentor back was by entering into one of his rare contests, and even then she figured he’d just show her cool indifference, as if there hadn’t been a close bond between them before.

She knew Adrien’s loneliness and she knew that no matter how close they were, she couldn’t be the only one in Adrien’s life.

“Do you think he’ll let you keep coming?”

“I don’t care if he doesn’t. I’ll run to school every morning if it means I get some bit of freedom.”

“Or maybe we can smuggle you in through a secret tunnel or something,” she giggled, picturing Adrien travelling from a trapdoor in his bedroom, wading through water, fighting off rats, and travelling through the catacombs (even though the catacombs were nowhere near their neighborhood), and arriving to school dirty and worn holding a torch, but with a smile on his face.

He chuckled. “Yeah, maybe we can do that. So you’re not mad at me?”

She blinked. “No, not at all. I’m your best friend, Adrien. Since when have I  _ not  _ had your back?”

“You’ve got a point.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you with this,” She presented her fist to him to bump, which he did. “I promise.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **MIRACULOUS LADYBUG SPOILER ALERT**
> 
> So for those of who who've seen the announcement that was made at New York Comic Con, there's going to be two new villains: Style Queen and The Collector. Style Queen looks like she can control gold glitter and The Collector...well there's the name. I realize how similar my Collector is very, very similar to these villains and I guess it's just kind of funny how coincidental it is (I just found out today (October 7) and I published this chapter yesterday (October 6)). So no, I didn't base my villain off of these two. What a funny coincidence though!


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